I'm sure McGrath is right in saying that the Taliban is an umbrella term and all kinds of groups join to oppose the common enemy = the West. Talking is the only solution not matter how difficult it is to accept. It seems that we always have to have a common enemy and if there isn't one, one is invented; they are then given a PR job to make them appear as foolishly evil as something from Dr Who: Saracens allowing their horses to urinate on the Holy Sepulchre, WWI Germans carrying babies speared on their bayonets, USSR being called the Evil Empire (straight out of Star Wars that one)...etc