Afghanistan: Taliban Offer

Daffyd ponders on the speculations about an alleged Taliban proposal that it would sever ties with al Qaeda in return for withdrawal of foreign troops, and says it's seems like a very clever strategic move.

4 comments

  • Adil:

    .The Taliban offered this same deal in 2001, and have from time to time offered it again.The general opinion seems to be that is is not worth much. The Pakistan Taliban has offered the same deal, and when accepted they used it to rearm and then attacked again. While a point can be made that the Afghanistan Taliban are only interested in gaining control of Afghanistan and the Pakistani Taliban are interested in worldwide jihad, it is pretty risky i believe to do this kind of deal with them

  • When the Bush administration decided to ignore international law and invade a peaceful country to overthrow a dictator that was put in place there by the Reagan Administration, they went against every principle that made this country great. Until we remove all our troops from the middle-east, and do something to solve our problems at home, our reputation in every country is ruined. If I could afford to go anywhere after the damage the neoconservative war/profit-mongers have done to our economy, I would definitely say I was from Canada. I invite you to my pages devoted to raising awareness on these important issues: http://pltcldscsn.blogspot.com/

    • Well I think you should seperate your thoughts about I. Iraq from your thoughts about Afghanistan.The two countries are very different and the situations are very different. As an example, Iraq is a modern, capitalist oriented country while Afghanistan is a tribal ethnic society, more comfortable in the 20th century than the 21st.

      • I agree with Lhotze on both responses. Cutting such a deal with the Taliban at best offers no guarantee that a “commitment” to truly severing ties with al Quaeda would be faithfully adhered to, especially in the long term.
        Indeed, Afghanistan and Iraq are two very different nations. Actually, there is one small point where I mildly disagree with Lhotze. Sadly Afghanistan, although at one time showing greater promise as a developing country during the mid-twentieth century, now seems “comfortably” set perhaps in an age predating the 1900’s.

Join the conversation

Authors, please log in »

Guidelines

  • All comments are reviewed by a moderator. Do not submit your comment more than once or it may be identified as spam.
  • Please treat others with respect. Comments containing hate speech, obscenity, and personal attacks will not be approved.