BLITZER'S BLOG: Negotiating with the Taliban
WASHINGTON (CNN) - President Obama says he wants to negotiate a peace settlement with the Taliban, the group in Afghanistan that harbored al Qaeda in the years leading up to 9/11. “So as we strengthen the Afghan government and security forces, America will join initiatives that reconcile the Afghan people, including the Taliban,” he said in his Wednesday evening White House address.
He then spelled out these conditions for such negotiations: “They must be led by the Afghan government, and those who want to be part of a peaceful Afghanistan must break from al Qaeda, abandon violence, and abide by the Afghan constitution.”
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The Afghan forces we are training will end up as mercenaries for the Taliban and used by Pakistan for insurgency against India...Taliban is backed by Pakistan with our aid money so the Karzai govt will not last...they have no reason to abandon violence.
Too bad we won't leave precipitously. It's about time to step away from another Bush/Cheney mistake, and rebuild out own nation instead.
What if we are successful negotiating with the Taliban? Its an uneasy feeling knowing the Taliban are willing to negotiate with America to save lives but we can't get the same committment from our elected officials in Congress.
Actually Afghani women are still more repressed than they were before the 80s when our government started supporting the Taliban against the Soviets. We created this mess in the first place! Afghanistan was a normal, albeit poor nation before the Soviets and us used it as an excuse for another piss fight in the Cold War.
Obama: we will surge in Afghanistan to finish the job that Bush left abandoned
Republicans: the job was just fine. Bring the troops home, the war is too expensive. Stop wasting money, let the Afghanistan government, the warlords, and the Taliban work themselves out
Obama: now that we finally have the violence subsiding and the Afghanistan state stabilizing we can withdraw troops to a pre-surge level
Republicans: no, we must stay in! This would be a surrender to terror!
Mr. President I just love the way u think u are a very smart man. You are a god send may the good lord keep his loving angel around u as we go through this storm.god bless u sir.