And this “excess of confidence” was nourished by their general ignorance of the nature of the jihad ideology, and of the tenacity and patience it would inspire in the Taliban. “Taliban threat “˜underestimated,– by John Thornhill in Financial Times, August 24 :
A senior French general in Afghanistan has admitted that the international security force has underestimated the threat posed by the resurgent Taliban.
“We sinned through an excess of confidence,” said General Michel Stollsteiner, the French commander of the International Security Assistance Force in the Kabul region, following an ambush by the Taliban last week that killed 10 French troops and injured a further 21.