I had just returned to my headquarters Aug. 18th from Ariana Circle where I attended the commemoration of the 93rd anniversary of Afghan independence. I was struck with the continuing strengthening of Afghan identity as a people and as a young democracy.

I was also struck by the natural way in which the Afghan leaders in attendance interacted with their international friends and colleagues. I saw genuine affection and partnership, but importantly a genuine commitment to the future of Afghanistan.

This moment in Afghanistan's history has arrived in the wake of some powerful and significant events: Afghanistan's signing of multiple strategic partnerships, including with the United States; the gathering of the Heads of State of the Isaf partners where the 50 countries pledged long term support to the Afghan National Security Forces; and the recent conference in Tokyo where the international community has pledged the necessary resources for the long-term development of Afghanistan during the coming Decade of Transformation.

We've not been delivered to this moment by accident or luck. Isaf and the Afghan National Security Forces have struggled for over a decade to create security for Afghanistan. Now, finally, the Afghan people are gaining confidence that they have a future apart from Taliban oppression and that the international community in general and Nato and US security forces in particular will be with them for many years. I cannot be more clear: the international community, Nato, and the United States will not abandon the Afghan people. The international security forces that remain after 2014 will assist the ANSF in its continued development and help them quell the violence.

There has been a lot of recent media coverage of the so-called Green on Blue attacks. In Nato parlance, Blue connotes friendly forces, Green is for allies or a host national force, Red is the enemy, and White is for civilians. Media coverage recently has emphasized Green on Blue attacks, and sometimes the equally worrisome Green on Green. Each instance is a tragedy and we mourn every loss. I've stood on the ramps of a number of airfields in Afghanistan as we've sent home our fallen heroes to a number of countries where the harsh reality plays out that someone in an ANSF uniform, the Green, could do such a thing to Afghanistan's allies, the Blue. ISAF and the ANSF are working harder than ever before to reduce this threat.

Both sides are fully engaged in separate and combined efforts to identify the threat, partner in defense of our respective forces, and reduce the incidents of Green on Blue and Green on Green. We will continue to work this with all our energy until we've reduced our vulnerabilities and eliminated this threat. What I have noticed, though, as I've stood shoulder to shoulder with the most senior Afghan leadership is they feel and personally mourn our losses, just as I and we do theirs.

The media coverage overlooks some other combinations of colors. The fact there can even be a discussion about a promising future for Afghanistan is because of the work and sacrifices of the Green AND the Blue. Every day, across Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of ANSF and Isaf troops and police interact in establishing security for larger and larger segments of the Afghan population. The Transition Process established at the Lisbon Summit is well into the Third Tranche, and now encompasses seventy-five percent of the Afghan population. That's a direct result of the Green AND the Blue defending the civilian population or, in military parlance, defending the White.

The media focus on Green on Blue also overlooks the Red on White, the absolutely callous slaughter of the Afghan population by the Taliban elements led by Mullah Mohammad Omar. Recent suicide bombings across Afghanistan have killed and wounded scores and scores of Afghan civilians. Omar has the blood of hundreds of innocent Afghan civilians on his hands even as he hypocritically calls on his lesser leadership not to attack civilians. One can only conclude he's either completely out of touch, or his forces are completely out of his control.

Perhaps that should be no surprise. Omar lives in safety and comfort in Pakistan, away from the conflict, along with a large number of his so-called commanders and commissioners. From this safety they have sent many young, impressionable, and largely spiritually helpless youths to their deaths and detention in Afghanistan, often emptying the madrassas in Pakistan to produce the foot soldiers to die in their increasingly ineffectual annual campaigns. The al Farouq campaign has been as ineffectual this year as the Al Badr campaign was last year, despite Omar's empty boasts.

Omar and his movement are failing for several reasons. Violence is not rising at Mullah Omar's command. It has risen - temporarily - because the Green AND the Blue, Afghans and Isaf, are taking the fight to the Red, the enemy. In truth, Omar's forces have largely been ejected from most of the relevant population centers of Afghanistan. Afghan and ISAF forces will continue to drive them away from the Afghan people, and we will be successful for several reasons. First the Taliban rely heavily on drug money, but they did not receive as much this year as planned. The Taliban claim a fervent devotion to Islam, but in truth they are eye deep in one of the most horrendous and sinful pursuits on the planet, the drug culture.

This hypocritical religious movement headed by Mullah Omar has been denied substantial amounts of revenue from drugs that would have fueled its operations. Second, donors from around the region are sending their money elsewhere because they would rather invest in conflicts that they believe are more promising than in defeat in Afghanistan. Finally, even though Isaf forces are drawing down, Afghan forces are building up every day in both numbers and strength. The Afghan and Isaf forces reach into enemy support zones they could not reach before. For its part the enemy has fewer resources, is drawing on increasingly reluctant ranks of fighters, and fighting from the defensive. With each atrocity, each assassination, and each depredation inflicted on the Afghan people by the Red, the Taliban and Omar further alienate themselves from the Afghan people and true Islamic faith, for there is a distinctive Islamic prohibition against murdering innocent civilians or benefiting from the scourge of drugs. The bankrupt ideology of the Red, the Taliban, has been rejected across the country. Just consult the polls.

This dynamic is playing out in another interesting color combination: White on Red. Increasingly the Afghan population is organizing to drive the hated Taliban from their homes, villages and towns. This White on Red movement is spreading from areas where the heavy hand of the Taliban has finally created a popular ground swell of uprising. In some areas, this rejection of the Taliban takes the form of Afghan Local Police, which the Taliban see as a major threat to their ability to victimize and intimidate the Afghan population. In other places, it takes the form of young Afghans joining the police or the army; going to school; farming their lands; and raising their families in peace. All of these movements together represent the final rejection, failure, and defeat of the Taliban.

So as I made my way back from the Afghan Independence Day commemoration, I thought about all this. We, ISAF and the ANSF, will continue to have to deal with Green on Blue and Green on Green. We will do all we can to reduce and remove that threat. We will mourn and honor our dead and wounded heroes. But we will not permit this threat or any other to derail our campaign and the collective and firm resolve of the Coalition, the resolve of the Blue and the Green. And make no mistake as you read this, we will protect the White, the civilian population, and we will take the battle to the enemy, and we will inflict Green and Blue on Red, and we will do it relentlessly every day and every night.

Mullah Omar should be deeply afraid. The international community has committed development aid and political and military support for Afghanistan until at least 2024. Out of touch in Pakistan, he's not seeing the murder inflicted by his forces on the innocent Afghans because he is afraid to leave his hiding-place. Or maybe he does see it and won't stop it-or can't stop it. He is not leading, nor is he commanding. His so-called orders are increasingly irrelevant and his lieutenants increasingly helpless. Time is not on Omar's side. The fact that over 5,000 of his fighters have formally gone home, and hundreds of others have simply stopped fighting is bad news for the Taliban.

And what about peace? There are elements within the Taliban movement who are seeking something other than war in Afghanistan and isolation in Pakistan, and they're reaching out. While there is more work to be done on the Afghan side, and within the international community to set the conditions for a peaceful settlement, the ground work is being laid by key Afghan leaders.

This struggle is far from over, but the solution will be found in the growing strength of the Green AND the Blue operating together, and will not be defined by incidents of Green on Blue. Our cause is right, our determination is clear, our sacrifices have not been in vain, and we are, in fact, prevailing.

Gen. John Allen is the commander of the Nato International Security Assistance Force and US forces in Afghanistan.

A version of this piece was published in US newspaper The Washington Post on August 24.