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The moderate Taliban, a field guide
Having apparently given up on his search for an honest man in Washington, President Obama has now directed his new White House Office for Exercises in Futility to embark on the search for the moderate Taliban. One can only imagine the instructions handed out to the CIA operatives and special forces troops entrusted with this task:
The man you are looking for will display one or more of the following views:
1) Seeks only partial destruction of the United States
2) Advocates stoning unfaithful women to death with only small rocks and pebbles
3) Believes terrorists are rewarded in heaven with only 25 virgins
4) Offers Bin Laden refuge in his home only during inclement weather
5) Still seeks to march every last Israeli into the sea but promises not to gloat about it afterwards
This gentleman will probably have a somewhat shorter beard than is typical, smiles occasionally, speaks some English and was last reported living with the Tooth Fairy in Candyland."
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David Rothkopf is the author of Superclass: The Global Power Elite and the World They are Making and Running the World: The Inside Story of the National Security Council and the Architects of American Power. He is a visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and President and CEO of Garten Rothkopf, a Washington, DC-based international advisory firm.
It's not entirely a foolhardy
It's not entirely a foolhardy concern, as long as when you say "moderate Taliban" you mean "foot soldiers/grunts who are in it for the X amounts of cash per day". Those guys do exist, and they shift from side to side.
In the mean time, they're probably not going to have much luck with the leadership, without making some major political concessions (meaning the Taliban will want a role in the Afghan government and control over several ministries, plus political untouchability).
In the mean time, what would really help would be if they could secure the major urban areas (like Kandahar), plus hand out guns and cash to villagers in the countryside. That's something I've heard a lot of when reading first-hand accounts of US troops interacting with Afghani rural folk; the rural folk always say "Please, we need guns, otherwise the Taliban will walk over us" and the US troops say, "Uh, no."
That's something I've heard a
That's something I've heard a lot of when reading first-hand accounts of US troops interacting with Afghani rural folk; the rural folk always say "Please, we need guns, otherwise the Taliban will walk over us" and the US troops say, "Uh, no."
Democracy in action in afghanistan. One gun, one vote.
But we don't want them to have guns until we know who they want to vote against....
Good one
Once again, informing the public about basics. Great article on SWAT valley Taliban acting "moderately" in weekend New York Times
It's better than the alternative -
Obama's plan may not work, but at least he's thinking beyond the British and Russian models of: "Lets stay in Afghanistan and get bled to death by tribes who hate outside invaders even more than their own weak central government."
If we do not plan on capturing and/or killing Bin Laden and Mullah Omar, we have zero reasons to stay in afghanistan.
Pointless [Article and Obama Policies]
Supremely misguided article here.
The Taliban today is not a cohesive entity, it is an amalgamation of various groups fighting under a loose umbrella. Some fight for religious reasons, others for money, others for power, others for a combination etc.
Thus it makes sense to attempt to drive through divisions within these groups to weaken the lethal ability of the Taliban.
BUT AT THE MOMENT THIS POLICY CANT WORK
It is typical of today's swing towards Western liberal ideals as the panacea for all ills.
The Taliban are negotiating from a position of strength. As far as they are concerned victory is not only possible, it is within sight. They [and I] doubt the U.S. has the stomach to fight another 8-10 grinding years of counter-insurgency. Until the U.S. can bring about a change in the balance of power and begin to extend the writ of law outside Kabul, negotiations are exactly the same as Pakistani inclinations. Compromise, then fight, compromise, then fight. Pointless!!!
What a dumb article...
Sunni moderates are what saved our bacon in Iraq. No wonder American foreign policy is served so poorly by the so called intelligentsia.