Afghan President Hamid Karzai: Warming to the Taliban? (Katie Collins/PA Wire URN:6549915)
Talking with the Taliban
“What’s up with Hamid Karzai?” said Fred Kaplan in Slate. The Afghan president said he would welcome peace talks with Mullah Mohammed Omar, the brutal Taliban leader with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head who harbored al Qaida and Osama bin Laden. U.S. commanders are open to "reaching out to ‘reconcilable’ Taliban fighters,” but “holding peace talks with Mullah Omar, or any other hard-core Taliban, is senseless” and dangerous.
Karzai’s offer is probably “a mere PR gimmick” designed to shore up domestic support before next year’s elections, said the Pakistan Observer in an editorial. But he’s right that there can be no peace in Afghanistan until the Taliban fighters—who “are part and parcel of the Afghan nation”—are brought “back to the national mainstream.”
Any talks with the Taliban would be a “terrible idea,” said Ann Marlowe in The Wall Street Journal, sending the wrong message to both the fundamentalist “criminals” in the Taliban and the newly hopeful Afghans in the parts of the country where we’re winning. Karzai must be desperate to cover up the inadequacies of his “often incompetent government.”
Dealing with Karzai will be one of the big challenges facing President Obama, said Daniel Markey in the International Herald Tribune. He will have to decide, quickly, if Karzai is “minimally capable” or “an insuperable obstacle” to progress. Obama will either have to back Karzai for reelection or use America's "unmatched" influence in Kabul to “ease him out of the presidential race.”
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Recent comments | 3 total
Why is anyone surprised? Our own pres-elect has repeatedly said he would sit down, with no conditions, with any bad guy in the name of peace negotiations. Karzai is just beating BO to it. Just because Mullah Mohammed Omar is in the top 10 most vicious, violent, murderous thugs in the world is no reason to not have tea with the guy and offer a dove for his eating enjoyment. So what if the Taliban fighters see this as a sign of weakness, having cozy chats makes America and her allies feel sooooooo good. Cum-bye-ya to all!
There is absolutely nothing wrong with talking to our enemies. It has been done in conflicts throughout history, but now the conservative republicans have decided that doing so is foolish and "sends the wrong message" or rewards our enemies in some way. What the conservatives seem to be forgetting is that we've been doing everything their way for years now and conservative policies in all areas, foreign and domestic, have only caused more problems for the rest of us to solve, so excuse us if we don't listen to everything you have to say regarding how to deal with terrorists. Not many people in the world see dialogue as a sign of weakness. Obama has shown himself to be a very judicious and strategic person, so I'm sure that his administration will have no problem in dealing with terrorists.
How quickly the dems forget that Carter failed to support the Shah of Iran with whom America had an alliance agreement. As a result of Carter's desertion of the Shah, the Ayatollah took over the Iranian government and America's embassy. For over a year, American citizens were held hostage to a regime lodged in 9th century beliefs. The more Carter begged for communication with the Ayatollah, the worse our citizens were treated. As a result of Carter’s ineptitude, the middle east has been a hotbed of terrorists, all of which can be directly traced back to the Carter adm. Now the average citizen who has never been to the middle east, seems to think they know all about it. I have been throughout the middle east with my company, and find it amazing how truly naïve some citizens, and a president-elect, are with respect to how many middle eastern cultures think and process actions. BO has shown himself to be an empty suit filled with rhetorical words, just like Carter. That naiveté is why Chavez, Castro, and Ahmadinejad have all supported BO for president. Which Americans will suffer from this arrogant position? I personally hope it is those BO supporters who have no real knowledge of the middle east but never hesitate to jump in and defend his naïve position.
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