Taliban Controls 52% of Afghanistan Territory

Source: AntiWar

Afghan Govt controls 59% of population

By Jason Ditz | February 14, 2021

With hopes that the 2020 US peace deal and intra-Afghan peace talks might ultimately end decades of war, some uncomfortable facts remain, raising the question of who controls Afghanistan anymore.

The US would insist the Ghani government is the lawfully elected government there, but the facts on the ground show that the Taliban physically control 52% of the country, compared to only 48% in government hands. 

That's a staggering amount when one considers that the Taliban has been fighting 20 solid years of war with both the would-be government and NATO. It would be hard to imagine that people living in Taliban territory wouldn’t feel that the Taliban, who was the Afghan government before the 2001 invasion, is effectively still in charge.

The Ghani government has focused mostly on densely populated areas, and argues they control 59% of the population. Yet Afghanistan is not a nation of cities by and large, but a rural country with a lot of natural resources and farms. Controlling physical land is ultimately more important to the country’s future.

This has been the case for some time, with the Taliban having retained important parts of the country, particularly in the south and southwest. 

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If you want to understand what is going on in Afghanistan read Michael Hasting's book The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan.

Michael Hastings' (RIP) book:

The Operators: The Wild and Terrifying Inside Story of America's War in Afghanistan



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