BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???

Subject: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Bobert
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 07:53 PM

Could this be the "October Surprise"???

Looks as if General David Petraeus is agreeing with Barak Obama that the best way to conduct foriegn policy is by talkin' with our enemies... Yep, he's saying that it would be a good thing to talk with the Taliban...

Yeah, I know... This Ocober Surprise ain't gonna help McCain one danged bit...

Maybe the good general has seen into the future and figurs better with the program now than later...

Whaddayathink???

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 28 Oct 08 - 08:19 PM

This has been increasingly seen as a likely development over recent months.

"Taliban" is a term that has been used as shorthand for the whole range of groups who have been fighting against the occupation. Some of these are dedicated to trying to restore the pre-invasion regime. Some of them probably just want the occupiers out, and a piece of the action along with the other warlords.

It seems likely enough that, as in Iraq, there are people who have been fighting the invaders who would be quite happy to dump Al Qaeda and maybe even deliver Bin Laden (or his body) as part of a deal that achieved that.

One way and another at some time there's going to be an accommodation between the Afghanis who have been fighting. That's how these things always work out.

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Bobert
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 07:43 PM

Right you are, McG...

Ain't this waht Obama has been sayin'??? Ain't this the opposite of what McCain has been sayin'...

Yeah, I see that many folks are fed up with the elction but this is a biggie for Obama...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Ed T
Date: 29 Oct 08 - 08:04 PM

If the west does not want to have troops there forever, seems like a dialogue with all the countries interests is the only way to proceed. Is that not democracy is about, anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 06:26 PM

Talking is a diplomatic tool, not a political reward (as McCain and Bush seem to think.) May not work, but it's certainly worth a try. Cheaper than shooting.

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 06:35 PM

Cheaper than funerals too, Dick.

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: DougR
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 07:21 PM

I don't recall, among the millions of things Obama has proposed and promised, him saying he was going to have a sit down with the Taliban. Obama was referring to leaders of nations, not leaders of terrorist groups.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Oct 08 - 07:28 PM

Regarding talking with the Taliban...something that will eventually have to happen...here is a very interesting article by Gwynne Dyer, who writes a regular column in Canadian newspapers.

Unwinnable Afghanistan

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: EBarnacle
Date: 31 Oct 08 - 11:25 AM

The call that any policeman hates and fears the most is a family fight. The civil war in Afghanistan has been going on for more than 160 years and will continue long after we leave. The best we can do is help set up a temporary accomodation and get the parties to try to work together non-violently.

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: GUEST,Doc John
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 10:44 AM

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

Subject: RE: BS: Talkin' with the Taliban???
From: Stu
Date: 01 Nov 08 - 11:07 AM

In the end it'll be the only way. It takes courage and maturity to sit down and talk with an enemy, so hopefully Obama will be the man who steps up to the pate. He could save a lot of lives.