“In a meeting with American reporters in Kabul in April [16] 2005, the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General David Barno, confidently predicted that ‘the Taliban militia would collapse as a viable fighting force over the next several months,’ adding that he believed the Taliban rank and file would accept an amnesty offer from Afghan president Hamid Karzai to lay down their arms and join the Afghan government.”
– Matthew M. Aid, The Secret Sentry, Page 275