The Taliban seems to be stepping up its strategy of attacking the NATO supply lines to Afghanistan. At the same time, the Russians seem to have succeeded in persuading Kyrgystan to close an air base used by the Air Force for operations in Afghanistan.
You can't sustain a force in the field without reliable supply lines. Attacking the supply lines nearly knocked the British out of the First World War. The Navy was very successful in isolating Japanese garrisons during the Second World War by attacking their seaborne supply lines.
This is one of the reasons for the old saying: "Amateurs concern themselves with tactics, professionals concern themselves with supply."
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Russia "persuaded" Kyrgystan in much the same way that Vito the Enforcer "persuades" people to pay their debts. Basically, Kyrgystan is freezing in the dark right now because either a) the rulers of the country sold all the water behind their hydroelectric dam to other countries in exchange for bribes, or b) global warming, depending upon who you talk to. Russian oil and gas is the only thing keeping the Kyrygs from utter disaster (thanks to the oil and gas fired central heating systems typical of Soviet master-planned cities, where one boiler heats entire city blocks). And the Kyrygs can't afford to pay. And the Russians told the Kyrygs, "kick out the Americans, or we donate no more oil and gas"...
Hint: If the U.S. wants to keep that airbase, they need to fork over a *lot* of money (as in, roughly $4B worth) to get the Kyrygs through the winter without having a lot of dead Kyrygs. Otherwise, well.
- Badtux the Geopolitics Penguin
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