From Science Daily:
ScienceDaily (July 17, 2009) — Insurgent groups like the Taliban can only be effectively engaged with timely and accurate military intelligence, and even good intelligence may only succeed in containing the insurgency, not defeating it, according to a new study.
The study is one of the first to combine military intelligence, attrition and civilian population behavior in a unified model of counterinsurgency dynamics.
Read more ....
My Comment: In Iraq a compromise was never reached with the insurgents .... instead, with the proper alliances, the insurgencywas significantly degraded by U.S. and Iraqi forces.
The Iraq civil war is still ongoing, and even though Iraqi leaders have publicly made comments that this is a war that will continue for a few more years, compromise and negotiations with these insurgent groups is not going to happen .... and that for all practical purposes this is a fight to the finish .... a fight that the Iraqi Government will win.
The same can be said about the Sri Lankan civil war. After 25 years of conflict, the Central Government mustered the will (which started last year) to fight this war to the finish .... which at the end of May they successfully did.
Fighting against insurgencies is never an easy thing. But if the will power and the determination is there to fight, insurgencies can and will be defeated. But if the determination and the will power to commit all is not there .... victory will never be achieved.