I like this new foreign policy we have. Instead of trying to win wars, we just build up troops and then make plans to leave the country. But before we do, we decide to negotiate with the enemy, the Taliban, because they’ve obviously demonstrated how trustworthy and civil they are. Surely we can leave the country in their fine hands.
Oh wait, ignore that over there. The Taliban aren’t really throwing rocks at a woman’s head who is buried up to her neck. That’s just an illusion in the desert.
Please, carry on with peace talks:
YAHOO NEWS – Perhaps channeling Winston Churchill’s famous warning about “The end of the beginning,” the White House on Tuesday announced plans for direct talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban militia, but cautioned against expecting any quick breakthrough that might speed the end of America’s longest war.
Among the likely items on the agenda: The return of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, held captive by the Taliban-allied Haqqani network since 2009.
U.S. and Taliban negotiators will hold formal talks “in a couple of days” in the Gulf state of Qatar, where the Taliban will officially open an office on Tuesday, U.S. officials said on a conference call with reporters. The negotiations are part of a diplomatic push to ease the American withdrawal by the end of 2014 and ensure the war-torn country does not serve as a springboard for attacks like the Sept. 11 2001 terrorist strikes.
The White House announced the face-to-face negotiations even as Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai proclaimed that his war-torn country’s military and police had taken the lead from NATO forces. Karzai also announced the start of separate peace talks with the Taliban in Qatar while calling for them to move to Afghanistan as soon as possible.
…
In the U.S.-Taliban talks, Washington is likely to send James Dobbins, who took over May 10 as the State Department’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Officials on the call said they believed that the Taliban negotiators would be “fully authorized” by the militia’s leader Mullah Omar, who has eluded capture since U.S. forces invaded Afghanistan in late 2001.
One of the officials said the Taliban would shortly release a statement saying “that they oppose the use of Afghan soil to threaten other countries and, second, that they support an Afghan peace process,” as long sought by the United States. The first part of the statement is meant to indicate that they will break with al-Qaida, the official said.
The Taliban and other insurgent groups must also commit to ending their attacks and accept Afghanistan’s constitution—including protections for women and minority rights, the official said.
While the negotiations are a good first step on the path to peace, “there’s no guarantee that this will happen quickly, if at all,” the first official underlined. “The core of this process is not going to be the U.S. Taliban talks. Those can help advance the process, but the core of it is going to be negotiations among Afghans, and the level of trust on both sides is extremely low, as one would expect. So it’s going to be a long, hard process if indeed it advances significantly at all.”