| Submit your comments on this article |
| Afghanistan |
| Reconciliation with Taliban Unlikely: Gates |
| 2010-01-20 |
| [Quqnoos] US Defense Secretary said it was unlikely Taliban leaders would reconcile with Kabul government. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said the lower ranking insurgents might be open to making peace with the Afghan government. Gates welcomed plans announced on Sunday by President Hamid Karzai's government to launch a new bid at making peace with Islamist militants. The Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Omar and other high ranking commanders would be reluctant to lay down their arms until circumstances changed on the battlefield. "Just speaking personally, I'd be very surprised to see a reconciliation with Mullah Omar," Gates told reporters aboard his plane en route to India. "I think it's our view that until the Taliban leadership sees a change in the momentum and begins to see that they are not going to win, that the likelihood of reconciliation at senior levels is not terribly great," he said. But he added that "we may see a real growth of reintegration at the local district and provincial level" as insurgents "come under pressure and know they're not going to win." Gates and top commanders have said previously that reconciliation efforts stood little chance of success without halting the momentum of the insurgents. Karzai's new reconciliation plan will be announced ahead of a major international conference on Afghanistan due in London on January 28, his spokesman Waheed Omar said on Sunday. The US government has shown full support to President Karzai reintegration initiative. Karzai has long called for peace talks with the Taliban -- even offering government posts to its leaders -- but the insurgents have refused dialogue until the withdrawal of Nato-led troops on which Kabul relies for security. Omar said the new plan would reach out to militants in all ranks, from the political leadership to fighters on the ground. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #5 I think the idea was to peel off those going a-jihadi for the money or from lack of opportunity from the true believers, Greart Sproing7365. After all, it worked in Iraq, where the Sunni Awakening was coupled with Coalition boots on the ground. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-20 13:53 |
| #4 President Obama may still think exactly that, if only he could talk to Mullah Omar, man to man. If Ostupid is really that dumb. let him, then we won't be tormented as he cannot serve the rest of his term of office dead or captured. Not disparaging the Secret Service, but no matter how many agents they have and can send, there are millions of Muslim terrorists, they'd simply be overwhelmed. Then Ostupid would have a wake-up call whether or not we tried to rescue him later. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-01-20 13:12 |
#3 "These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act, and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate." The quotes above provided the original rationale for the intervention in Afghanistan, which I supported: Surgical retaliation for 9/11; hunting down and killing the Taliban to restore western deterrence (as opposed to indiscriminate retaliation against Afghanistan as a nation). If that was still the political objective Gates would warn the Afghan government that reconciliation with the Taliban would put them into NATO's crosshairs. Apparently the new goal is appeasing the Taliban by making them rulers of Afghanistan again, only this time they would be subsidized by western taxpayers. The question is: Why would any potential state sponsor of anti-western terrorism need to fear the consequences of their behavior, given that the Taliban's sponsorship of 9/11 is going to yield a net benefit for the Taliban? |
| Posted by: Greart Sproing7365 2010-01-20 09:26 |
| #2 Secretary Gates probably should have said, "In my opinion," instead, American Delight, in order to avoid just that reaction. On the other hand, President Obama may still think exactly that, if only he could talk to Mullah Omar, man to man. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-01-20 08:13 |
| #1 "'Just speaking personally, I'd be very surprised to see a reconciliation with Mullah Omar,' Gates told reporters..." Just speaking personally? Just speaking personally?! Does he mean that other members of the administration think reconciliation with Mullah Omar is possible?? |
| Posted by: American Delight 2010-01-20 00:12 |