Have the Taliban and their supporters won the war? asks Q

Well if they have I would dearly like to know precisely what they have won.

1: They do not control a single town or district inside Afghanistan
2: Their leaders still sit in their Pakistani ISI provided "Safe Houses" (Didn't prove too "safe" for OBL though).
3: Since 2006 they have threatened "Spring" and "Summer" Offensives and have yet to deliver one, whereas ISAF and the ANSF can fight 12 months of the year

Mullah Omar, the spiritual leader of the Taleban, realised the game was a stalemate about four years ago. But there were no indications of anybody seeking talks (That year they had an election to try and derail). The track record of any talks with the Taleban is not good, they have never lived up to any promise they have given or any condition they have agreed to.

The presence of the international community inside Afghanistan was never an "invasion" or an "occupation" both UNAMA and ISAF were always going to leave Afghanistan as soon as they possibly could. The work previously carried out by the PRTs is now being undertaken by Afghan Authorities and by Afghan Contractors. The ANSF has just assumed lead role and responsibility for security and law enforcement inside Afghanistan's borders (Early in 2007 British General Sir David Richards predicted that this would happen sometime in a period he put as being 5 - 10 years. It has actually happened in 6 years)

Afghanistan is a country two-and-a-half times the size of France with a population of ~31 million people. Annual average death toll from ALL causes since 2006 is 581,947. Annual average death toll due to the current insurrection over the same period is ~2,133, which tends to suggest that throughout Afghanistans 34 Provinces and 388 Districts you stand a damned sight more chance dying of drinking poor water, or being run over by a truck than you do being killed by the Taleban or by ISAF/ANSF.

So what have the Afghans got from all this?

A) Roads, Bridges, Hospitals, Schools, Airports, A railway.
B) Hydro-electric schemes and irrigation schemes
C) Since 2009 they, for the first time in the history of the country, now grow sufficient cereal crops to satisfy domestic demand
D) In 2001 the average life expectancy was 41 years - It is now 67 years
E) Between 1978 and 2001 an Afghan civilian had a 1-in-5 chance of suffering an unexpected violent death. The chances of him suffering that same unexpected violent death today are 1-in-272
F) Massive foreign investment (Note: That is investment NOT aid)

Literacy? In 2001 the male literacy rate for the country was 14%, that percentage has increased enormously the male literacy rate is now 43.1% (Female literacy 12.6%)

In the Autumn and early winter of 2001 the Taleban, then at the height of their power, were driven from the country in 71 days by 35,000 men of the Northern Alliance assisted by 1,200 US Special Advisers and the combat aircraft supplied by two USN Aircraft Carriers. When the NATO-led ISAF contingent withdraws their combat troops the Taleban will not be facing 35,000 men of the Northern Alliance, they will be facing 354,000 men of the ANA & ANPF assisted by the international community and by those countries with investments to protect inside Afghanistan. The ANSF and the Government of Afghanistan will be able to call upon whatever support and assistance they require. The Taleban know this and perhaps that is why they are trying to blag their way to a negotiating table before the 31st December 2014 - because after that it becomes an "All Afghan Affair" and downright "Soviet" in nature, choices offered will be stark and the Taleban and their supporters do not have the resources to fight a war when their opposition is waging war on them (Up to now no-one has).