And here I thought that the US didn't negotiate with terrorists. Silly me. Turns out that the Obama administration "toyed with the idea" early on in their tenure. (Interesting how they 'toy' with the lives of American soldiers, isn't it?)
Patrick Cronin, a senior advisor at the Center for New American Security, said on "Washington Unplugged" Thursday that United States officials first toyed with the idea of negotiating with the Taliban in Afghanistan early on in the Obama administration, though they did not act.
He said that early debate over possible negotiations – as part of an effort to combat al Qaeda – came during a "point of weakness" for the United States. Things have changed since then, he argued.
"Now that we have committed to a new Afghan policy, if not strategy," Cronin said, "...we are in a relatively strong position to at least talk about the tactic of reaching out to at least some members of the Taliban." Cronin said the administration can now differentiate between rank and file and Taliban leadership.
How can we be in a "relatively strong position" if we are talking about cutting and running? How can we be negotiating with the Taliban in the middle of a troop surge? And why would we even consider such a thing given the miserable failure of the last such reconciliation attempt?
Thousands of Taliban militants laid down their Kalashnikovs and signed up for the old program, which lasted 41/2 years and cost $3 million. But many fighters didn't get the money and land they were promised and rejoined the insurgency. Others took the cash and returned to the Taliban anyway.
"That program was ridiculous," said Mohammad Arsalan Rahmani, a former Taliban deputy minister and now a senator in Afghanistan's parliament. "Taliban fighters who surrendered have been arrested. They never got the land and money that were promised.
[...]
Britain and Japan will head a new, much larger international fund aimed at persuading fighters to switch sides, British officials said Tuesday. Japan, Britain and the U.S. are expected to be the largest contributors initially. The fund, which will be formally announced during an international aid gathering in London this week, is expected to reach $500 million.
Part of the grand plan? Sewing lessons.
Vice Admiral Robert S. Harward Jr., the commander of the military task force that assumed oversight of the prison system Jan. 7, (and the person tasked with reintegrating captured Taliban inmates to society) said a crucial part of his job is to separate hard-core Islamic extremists from detainees who can be reintegrated into Afghan society.
For the latter group, Harward plans to beef up education and training programs, teaching detainees masonry, cooking, sewing and other skills. "If we can give them a skill, when they come back to their village they can contribute and, at the end of the day, have a higher purpose in life," he said.
Unfortunately Vice Admiral, they already have a higher purpose in life - the death cult of ISLAM and all the sewing classes in the world will not change that.
For their part the Taliban reject the idea of peace talks out of hand.
Avoiding any discussion of compromise, the Taliban leadership council called for "the full withdrawal of the invading forces," the release of all prisoners from Afghan, Pakistani, and US jails, and the removal of all names from the United Nations terrorist sanctions list.
The Taliban said they had no intentions of negotiating with the Afghan government, which they described as "traffickers of intoxications items, human rights violators, corrupt persons, national traitors and usurpers of people private properties." Instead, Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, seeks to reinstall the Islamic Emirate.
It looks like the Taliban are already getting some of their demands met: UN eases sanctions on 5 Taliban leaders.
And the rights of Afghani women? Look for them to be thrown under the bus.
About the conference's communique summarizing the outcome? It was a largely boilerplate document which glossed over the major issues and was leaked by the Germans before the participants even sat down to their lunch of goat cheese and sea bass!
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