How are the insurgencies in Colombia and Afghanistan similar?
The counterinsurgency forces in Colombia and Afghanistan face several similar challenges. 1. Rugged terrain in both countries provides locations for insurgents to hide and limits the ground mobility of counterinsurgent forces. 2. Insurgents in both Colombia and Afghanistan take advantage of cross-border sanctuaries. 3. Insurgents in both countries have financed their operations with narco-trafficking. 4. At their worst, the two insurgent forces had similar strengths. At their peak strengths (around 2001), the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgent groups could field a combined 21,500 fighters, about 1.9 fighters for every 1,000 military-aged males in Colombia. The upper estimate of the Taliban’s current strength is 17,000 or 2.3 fighters for every 1,000 military-aged males in Afghanistan. 5. When Colombia was scraping bottom at the end of the 1990s, the Colombian army was ineffective against insurgent forces. FARC military units were
