I read this report from CNN on the current battle between the Taliban and a province (Panjshir Valley) which remains out of Taliban’s control in Afghanistan. The Panjshir Valley has the National Resistance Front (NRF) fighting therein. An interest is this statement from NRF after Taliban reported a few days ago that it had entered the valley, claiming that it would be concluding the battle soon.
An NRF spokesman said: “We have allowed them (Taliban) to enter the valley intentionally and now they are trapped. ..This is a tactic we have used from our playbook from the 1980s when the Soviets entered the Valley. The NRF is all over Panjshir and the Taliban have suffered heavy casualties tonight”.
No one is sure who is telling the truth, but you will not miss the use of the word “Playbook”. Politicians and business leaders do this all the time. An opponent produces bogus surveys telling you that your numbers are looking good, and that a state is winnable, even when it knows you have no chance; Trump campaign did it for Biden in Texas but Biden campaign despite many asking it to go for it (win Texas) did not fall for that trap.
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The US during the Gulf War did a similar thing: it “leaked” many documents that it was coming through the Euphrates River, conditioning the Iraq military to station there for resistance there. Magically, they came from another area, flanking Saddam Hussein soldiers and Baghdad fell in about 3 weeks.
I called this Fish Bait Acquisition Construct in business. Yes, what looks like easy wins may be designed to emasculate a business, trapping the brand into annihilation. Have awareness!
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What do we call the playbook the APC deployed here in 2015 to bait Nigerians? With Buhari as the wildcard, packaged with a wrapper called ‘Change’, and many Nigerians dreamed, that dream is now a nightmare.
They gamed Nigerians, even the party was amazed and flattered by how well its bait worked, and the members became confused about how to manage their victory.
We don’t need to go as far as Afghanistan to examine a playbook, one happened before our eyes here, still very fresh in our minds…