Are the Taliban the sort of people we can successfully negotiate with to guarantee the future of Afghanistan? You would think so based on the number of voices in Washington claiming the Taliban have learned lessons from the past decade and they will not be as dedicated to their hateful agenda in the future. We hear they supposedly are willing to give up their alliance with al-Qaeda, their insistence on enslaving the Afghan people to their fundamentalist philosophy, and so on. If only it were so. Alas, this is all wishful thinking from those who want to pull out of the war but avert their eyes from the consequences of an American pullout.
In reality, there is not a shred of evidence the Taliban have moderated in any way. Witness recent Taliban attacks on those trying to educate Afghan boys and girls. In Ghazni Province, Taliban threats recently forced the closure of a school teaching boys and girls together. Indeed, the Taliban have forced the closing of all schools (about 50 in all) in 14 of 17 districts in that province, where Polish troops have had not had much success in pacification efforts. (A brigade from the 82nd Airborne Division is now coming into Ghazni to increase security.) In Paktika Province, meanwhile, Taliban goons ambushed with bombs and guns a convoy of education officials, killing five and wounding three. Paktika is a province in eastern Afghanistan where there have not been nearly enough American and Afghan troops and where plans for “clear and hold” operations are on hold because of the overly hasty troop drawdown ordered by President Obama.
So much for the “kinder, gentler” Taliban. These latest atrocities expose this conceit for the wishful thinking that it is. The Taliban must be defeated, not accommodated.
Have a little faith, Max. n nObama's plan may work: n nIf we would all just be a little more culturally sensitive and pronounce their name properly, as the President does (Tal-eee-bun), they would recognize what great guys we are, and soften up. n nBefore you know it, they'll be inviting us to their next girl's school burning or blowing up of Buddhist monuments. n n n
Good one Michael…….yes, we all need to pronounce names like our Dear Leader – Tal-ee-bun and Pa-key-stahn. Oh so reverant, oh so mutl-cultural, oh so global.
Muslim extremeists are like rabid dogs. There is only one remedy. The sooner and wider it is applied the better.
I could live with a Taliban-dominated governance in Afghanistan, except for two items: n n1) In addition to the natural extremist subjugation of peoples inherent in the Taliban, there is not a shred of evidence to suppose that they will close out al-Qaeda. These two groups are ideological soulmates with a shared fundamentalist view on religion. With the Taliban in charge, or even having a significant presence in the Afghani government, al-Qaeda will again have a homeland for their troops, training, and R&R. Within a few years al-Qaeda will return to their pre-2003 strength and with a greater knowledge of how the US works (in the absence of our current President). Did we learn nothing in Vietnam? Allowing an indigenous insurgency / revolutionary body a place of sanctuary makes it impossible to beat them. The entire effort of the past 10 years will have been for naught. Crap on this idea of "the last man to die for a mistake" when the mistake is to pull out before the job is done. The sacrifice of the troops will be meaningless. Oh, we'll cheer them – sure we will! But we will effectively have spit on what they did. n n2) The women of Afghanistan. They have tasted freedom; they have walked about openly; they have opened businesses; they have gone to school; they have become professionals in many fields; they have had an opportunity to hope. All this will be destroyed, and they will be re-enslaved. The retaliation against them will be brutal. I cannot imagine the horror that they must be experiencing as they watch this monstrous, implacable doom approaching – all because they dared to trust the USA. Their trust is betrayed: they will be whipped; they will be mutilated; they will be confined to the living space of their masters; they will be chattel; they will be beneath contempt. This is the new future for the Afghani women. God help them, because Allah sure as hell will not. n nThe political posturing of an inept President: what a tragic cost!