Taliban, Afghanistan in talks to end war

[USArmyParatrooper]

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/10/ap-taliban-afghanistan-talks-100610/

Taliban, Afghanistan in talks to end war

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Oct 6, 2010 9:13:30 EDT

WASHINGTON — Secret talks aimed at ending the war in Afghanistan have begun between representatives of the Taliban and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, The Washington Post reported on its website Tuesday night.

Afghan and Arab sources cited by the Post said they think for the first time that Taliban representatives are fully authorized to speak for the Quetta Shura, the Afghan Taliban organization based in Pakistan, and its leader, Mohammad Omar, according to the newspaper. The sources requested anonymity to discuss the development.

(snip)

The top commander in Afghanistan, Gen. David Petraeus, said last week that Taliban leaders have made overtures to reconcile with the Afghan government.

"There are very high-level Taliban leaders who have sought to reach out to the highest levels of the Afghan government and indeed have done that," Petraeus told reporters in Afghanistan.

Reconciling with Taliban leaders is being "pursued by the Afghan leadership at the very highest levels," Petraeus said.

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

:thumbsup:

[gratuitous]

2. And it's 1 . . . 2 . . . 3, What're we fighting for?

Well, I'm sure that when we leave Afghanistan, it will be under the most ironclad guarantee of power sharing, and that the Taliban won't simply re-seize power and spend the subsequent five years paying back every village, family and civilian for their "collaboration" with the West. Actually, I'm not sure of that at all.

[ieoeja]

3. On the other hand ...

... this war started when the Soviet backed central gov't in Kabul tried forcibly liberalizing regions opposed to such action.

During that fight those regions got radicalized and decided to go for the brass ring once they had the upper hand.

It would not be entirely surprising that, after decades of war, Taliban leadership is getting tired of the whole damned thing and would be happy achieving their original goal of returning to the pre-Communist status quo. That would, after all, still mean they won the original war.

Sort of like the US and China in Korea. We saved South Korea, the only goal the UN & Truman ever wanted. They saved North Korea. We both win.

Furthermore, history is replete with examples of war-mongers turned peace-makers in their later years. From Anglo-Saxons to American Indians. Of course, history is also replete with examples of young war-mongers ignoring/displacing old war-mongers turned peace-makers. So even if Omar is serious, there is no guarantee he will be able to control his own people.

We will know when we know. Personally, I think they should restore the old monarchy. The monarchy have remained neutral through all this. To the best of my knowledge, no faction in Afghanistan really have any gripe with them. And since the last time Afghanistan had peace was under the monarchy, one would think a lot of Afghans look upon that period as a golden era.

[gratuitous]

4. It's possible the Taliban might settle down

But considering the ongoing radicalized nature of the folks who took over Iran from the Shah, this recent development of religious fundamentalist power-grabbing may be something new and enduring. As the original firebrands age, they seem to get replaced by young, hungry firebrands eager for their turn at oppression in religious guise. Playing god is a heady experience; playing god with god's endorsement is downright intoxicating.

I think we just flushed a lot of money and lives down the toilet, and we'll wind up so close to where all this started before the invasion as to be indistinguishable.

[JNelson6563]

5. Nice.

Glad to see this. Dare we hope?

Julie