(Click Image to Expand)Map: Pakistan's border with Afghanistan. Der Spiegel
An Insurgent's Road Trip from Pakistan to Afghanistan -- Spiegel Online
It is an open secret that thousands of Taliban insurgents travel to Pakistan when they need a break from the fighting in Afghanistan. The reason is simple: The Pakistani soldiers are friendly and the border is hardly controlled at all. SPIEGEL ONLINE joins one fighter as he returns to the front.
In Afghanistan cars are cheaper. Rafiullah knows this all too well. He grew up in Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan, a place where you can pick up almost any new model cheaply. The cars are stolen from around the world and then smuggled into the country. Rafiullah needs a car, here in Kohistan, in northern Pakistan where he has been living for a few months.
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My Comment: And this story sums up the crux of why it is difficult to defeat the Taliban. As long as they have an opportunity to recover from their battles instead of being continuously involved in warfare and/or constantly on the move .... the cost for them to continue this war will never be high enough for them to consider giving it up.