The power of kinship led to a common arrangement whereby extended families have protected themselves by sending one son to fight with the government army or police (for pay) and another son to fight with the Taliban. This has been a strategy in many civil wars, for example, among English noble families in the 15th-century Wars of the Roses. It means that at a given point, one of the sons can desert and return home without fearing persecution by the winning side.
These arrangements also serve practical purposes. It is often not possible for guerrilla forces to hold any significant number of prisoners of war. Small numbers might be held for ransom, but most ordinary soldiers are let go, enlisted in the guerrillas’ own ranks or killed.
Thus, as in medieval Europe, Afghanistan has a tradition to which the Taliban have adhered closely — and which helps explain the speed of their success. The Taliban will summon an enemy garrison to surrender, either at once or after the first assaults. If it does so, the men can either join the besiegers or return home with their personal weapons. To kill them would be seen as shameful. On the other hand, a garrison that fought it out could expect no quarter, a very strong incentive to surrender in good time.
I've been similarly struck by how big of a failure this pull-out seems to be on behalf of U.S. intelligence agencies and/or the process of acting on intelligence. Maybe it's more likely that intel people knew how rapidly the Taliban could peacefully take over, but how far up the chain of command? Deserves investigation. But sure, we needed to leave the country. We failed to make a case for adopting American ideals, and for a litany of reasons. In hindsight, that was a pipe dream, and probably a talking point first thought up by DoD contractor lobbyists. Pathetic that many media outlets have let politicians use this to point fingers but pay very little attention to Bush Jr., Cheney, Obama, or anyone else that started or perpetuated indefinitely occupying anywhere in the Middle East. I suspect Trump understood how spectacularly poor the process of leaving Afghanistan would play out, and waited to put off the possibility until after the 2020 election so as to not hurt his chances. Syria didn't go well either. Now Biden is hoping like hell that the long-term results (or at least the perception thereof) of this evacuation are positive, but damn, what a botched operation. Can you imagine being governed by a woman-repressing, anti-science, gun-toting faction of religious fundamentalists? Sounds bad! begins to sing the "Greg Abbott Is The Best" song, as required by decree of Our Lord GovernorOver the past 20 years, U.S. military and intelligence services have generally either not understood or chosen to ignore this dynamic as they sought to paint an optimistic picture of American efforts to build a strong, loyal Afghan army.