NATO allowed Taliban official to Kabul: Petraeus

[bemildred]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - NATO-led forces facilitated the passage of a senior Taliban commander to Kabul to hold talks with the Afghan government, the commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan said on Friday.

U.S. General David Petraeus, commander of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said the move was part of U.S. and NATO support for President Hamid Karzai's reconciliation discussions with the Taliban.

"In certain respect we do facilitate that, given that, needless to say it would not be the easiest of tasks for a senior Taliban commander to enter Afghanistan and make his way to Kabul if ISAF were not....aware of it and therefore allows it to take place," he told an audience in London.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSLAL00453420101015

[Pirate Smile]

1. good.

[Arctic Dave]

2. Excellent. They can all get their stories straight so when we get the fuck out

of there nobodies feelings are hurt.


Stupid fucking wars run for ego.

[Uncle Joe]

3. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bemildred.

[bemildred]

4. My pleasure Uncle Joe.

I think we are finally seeing the end of our involvement in this debacle. Or the start of the end, or something like that. You can tell by the absence of the usual dumb-shit belligerence in the statements coming out of the military "leaders".

[Uncle Joe]

5. I hope so, bemildred.

I believe there is at least a 50/50 chance whereas before it was more like a snowball's chance in Hell.

[txlibdem]

6. And that's sure to piss off the American Imperialists

Hey, here's an idea. Let the Afghanis determine their own future. If they want to make peace with the Taliban then JUST FRACKIN' LET THEM.

PS, get us the heck out of their country and let them determine their own way of life. The only thing our occupation of their country has brought them is corruption and death. Rachel Maddow did us a great service when she showed the Mansions belonging to corrupt officials and cronies.

[Kolesar]

8. Rachel showed that?

just kicking this thread!

[txlibdem]

14. For your edification...

Here is the video I referenced. Maddow shows that the cronies are living in mansions built with all the money funneled into Afghanistan government and contracts. I missed the interesting part from about 0:48 to about 2:00 in the video.

[Kolesar]

15. oops, video not in post...eom

[txlibdem]

16. Oops is right. Doh!

Sorry, here is the video right off of msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26315908/ns/msnbc_tv-rachel_maddow_show/#38139587

:hi:

[bemildred]

9. Who can forget Dostum's swimming pool?

http://cursor.org/stories/afghaniscam.html

[txlibdem]

12. Perfect quote at the end of that article

In the words of an reporter for the Associated Press, many of the returned refugees

"Now view Karzai's government as serving the rich and doing little for the poor."38

http://cursor.org/stories/afghaniscam.html

[bemildred]

13. And in the 8 years since then nothing much has changed. nt

[creon]

7. good idea

This war will be ended by talking. Not by fighting.
I hope that this leads to something -- the end of this campaign.

[bemildred]

10. Afghan-Taliban talks focusing on site, safe passage for negotiations

KABUL - Recent meetings between Taliban representatives and the Afghan government have focused on establishing a site for more formal negotiations on the war, as well as guarantees of safe passage for participants, according to the head of Afghanistan's new peace council.

In an interview Friday evening, Burhanuddin Rabbani, the former Afghan president chosen to chair the committee to foster peace talks, said the Taliban members who have met with Afghan officials wanted to discuss the logistics of where to convene further and how they could do so without being captured. Rabbani said a government official had told him the Taliban representatives offered to provide security if the talks were to be on their turf - presumably Pakistan - and asked for security if meetings were in Kabul or a third country.

"I think this is one of the best opportunities we have had for talks," Rabbani said.

Although there has been some contact between Afghan officials and the Taliban for years, persistent reports of recent behind-the-scenes meetings suggest that the prospect for more serious negotiations is growing.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/10/15/AR2010101504874.html

[Bigmack]

11. I can save you a trip to the rightwingnut ...

take on this. The freepoids are blaming the defeat in Afghanistan on Obama.

They're replaying the "the politicians lost Vietnam" bullshit.