Afghanistan's Taliban: US Tactics - Defeat or Negotiate?
By Jeffrey Imm
As Afghanistan President Karzai offers to negotiate with the Taliban and provide them a place within the Afghanistan government, a visible split in tactics is evident between the U.S. State Department and the U.S. military. In my previous posting, I addressed the question "Are the Taliban "The Enemy" or Not?" Apparently, that is an open question to the U.S. government organizations forming policy and tactics in the Afghanistan war.
The misguided concept that there can be a "good Taliban" and "bad Taliban" allows for such confusing tactics as the State Department calling for negotiations with Taliban, while the U.S. military kills and hunts for the Taliban as an enemy. It is also a further reflection of the lack of a coherent national strategy on Jihad and political Islamism as also previously discussed. As previously reported, the recently published "Taliban constitution" for Afghanistan clearly conveys what the Taliban ideology truly is.
Today, a representative of the U.S. State Department supported the efforts of President Karzai to negotiate with the Taliban's and its leader Mullah Omar. AFP reports: "The deputy head of the European and Eurasian Affairs office at the State Department, Kurt Volker, said Washington welcomed President Hamid Karzai's bid to sit down with radical Afghan groups, as long as they rejected violence. 'We don't want there to be continuing warfare or conflict in Afghanistan. For that to happen, reconciliation is an important part of the mix'. Volker said it was crucial to offer incentives to former insurgents."
U.S. State Department's Volker's position on Afghanistan negotiations with Mullah Omar and the Taliban has apparently ignored State's comments on Mullah Omar's wanted poster that "[a]lthough Operation Enduring Freedom removed the Taliban regime from power, Mullah Omar remains at large and represents a continuing threat to America and her allies". But then again, the State Department have removed Mullah Omar's wanted poster from the main listing of wanted terrorists. New Kerala also reports the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte also did not reject Afghanistan's call for talks with the Taliban. New Kerala reports that the United Nations holds a similar position quoting UN Secretary General's Special Envoy in Kabul Tom Koenigs: "So far many have said that we do not negotiate with terrorists, meaning also the Taliban. However the Taliban is multi-faceted. You cannot lump all of them together."
Meanwhile, the U.S. military continues to view the Taliban as the enemy. On Monday, DPA reports that the U.S. military killed 20 Taliban. On Sunday, the U.S. military decided to put up more wanted posters to capture and kill the Taliban leaders (that the U.S. State Department wants Afghanistan to negotiate with). AP reported that "to help track down 12 insurgent commanders, posters and billboards are to go up around eastern Afghanistan with their names and pictures. Rewards ranging from $20,000 to $200,000 are available for information leading to their capture. 'We want the people in that area to know who this guy is and know he's a bad guy, and when they spot him to turn that guy in,' military spokesman Maj. Chris Belcher said." (Mullah Omar was not included in the new poster, as he is viewed by the military as a separate high value target still worth $10 million -- the UN has stated that Mullah Omar will stay on their blacklist, regardless.)
The offers by the Afghanistan government to negotiate with the Taliban and to allow them to join the government have not diminished the Taliban's viciousness and commitment to Jihad. On Saturday, Reuters reports that the Taliban took credit for a suicide bomb on an Afghan army bus killing 30 in Kabul. On Sunday, Reuters reports that the Taliban killed 11 police. On Sunday, AP reports that the Taliban murdered a 15 year old boy by hanging him to death because he had U.S. money in his pockets. On Monday, AP reports that the Taliban killed eight police. On Tuesday, AP reports that a suicide bomber killed 13 police and civilians, including a mother and her two children, and several of the wounded had no legs. A mechanic said: "One woman was holding a baby in her arms, and they were both killed... Half of the woman's face was blown off." The reaction of the Afghanistan government's Health Minister Mohammad Amin Fatem: "Please stop killing Muslims." So, is it OK to kill non-Muslims? Again, what are we trying to achieve in Afghanistan?
Less than 30 days after the 6th anniversary of 9/11, it takes the British press, not the American media or American political leadership, to remind us that the Taliban were behind the 9/11 attacks:
-- October 1 - UK's Daily Telegraph: "Afghanistan: No peace with terror" -- "It is important to remember why we are in Afghanistan. Our troops are not there to guarantee democracy, nor build dams, nor ensure that girls attend school. Or, to be precise, these are secondary objectives which contribute towards our primary goal, namely the containment of terrorism.... More British subjects died on September 11, 2001 than in any other terrorist attack in history. Afghanistan was the heart of the network which carried out that atrocity. No, our main objection to the Taliban remains what it always has been: that they might rebuild the terrorist infrastructure that we have successfully demolished over the past four years... the Taliban themselves remain our sworn enemies, and Afghanistan will not be safe until they have been convincingly defeated."
And even more Americans died on 9/11 than Britons... or has that been forgotten by American political leadership?
As Robert Spencer put it more bluntly and concisely when reporting on Karzai's offer to give the Taliban a role in the Afghanistan government: "Surrender".
The view that Taliban supporters are simply "conservative" or "fundamentalist" in their religious views, and the the Taliban is an inherent part of Afghanistan society demonstrates the unwillingness to address political Islamism in general. This unwillingness to address either Islamism or Jihad, and the ideologies behind them, and to only monofocus on tactical issues, is how we have gotten to such a situation in Afghanistan and the rest of the world.
For the Taliban's part -- when they are not busy killing soldiers, women, and children -- the Taliban are thinking over Karzai's offer of peace and an opportunity to regain power in the Afganistan government. The Pakistan Daily Times reports that the Taliban are divided on such offers of peace talks and political mainstreaming, although Taliban spokesman have previously called for the removal of foreign troops from Afghanistan first. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi told the Pakistan Daily Times: "My bosses have not decided on a policy about this," Ahmadi said by telephone from an undisclosed location. "They will think about it, and when the Taliban has a decision, I will call you right away." In addition, the Asia Times reports that Al Qaeda in Afghanistan is also "certainly looking for some kind of 'amnesty' for itself".
Who knows? Perhaps next the UN and the US political leadership will start negotiating with Al Qaeda next.
The lack of outrage by American political leadership and the U.S. media on Karzai's offer to allow the Taliban to return to the Afghanistan government speaks volumes as to the lack of unanimity behind America's strategy in Afghanistan. This is reflective of the larger issue regarding the lack of an agreed-upon national strategy on Jihad and political Islamism in general, as previously discussed. That lack of an American national strategy on Jihad and political Islamism remains a Grand Canyon-sized fault line in our national security strategy and any strategy to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in the tactical efforts ongoing across the world.
Sources and Related Stories:
October 2, 2007 - AFP: US backs Karzai's offer to talk to Taliban
October 2, 2007 - Pakistan Daily Times: 'Taliban divided over peace talks with Karzai'
October 2, 2007 - RFERL: Afghanistan: Karzai Tests Waters With New Peace Overture To Taliban
October 2, 2007 - AP: Afghan violence at record levels
October 2, 2007 - AFP: Suicide attack in Kabul kills 13
October 2, 2007 - Asia Times: Al-Qaeda wants a part of Afghan talks
October 2, 2007 - The Gulf Times: Taliban leader to remain on UN blacklist
October 1, 2007 - AP: U.S. Offers $200,000 to Catch Taliban
October 1, 2007 -- The Daily Telegraph: "Afghanistan: No peace with terror"
October 1, 2007 - Reuters: Taliban ambush Afghan convoy killing 11
October 1, 2007: Deutsche-Welle: More than 20 rebels killed in US-led, Afghan raids
October 1, 2007 - DPA: Eleven police, 20 Taliban killed in southern Afghanistan
October 1, 2007 - AP: Taliban executes Afghan teenager for having US money
October 1, 2007 - New Kerala - Is the 'War on Terror' in Afghanistan coming full circle?
October 1, 2007 - The Times of India: India expresses concern over growing influence of Taliban
October 1, 2007 - The National Post: Afghanistan foes ready to tango?
September 29, 2007 - AP: Afghan president offers Taliban a place in government for peace deal
September 29, 2007 - Reuters: Suicide bomb on Afghan army bus kills 30 in Kabul
September 29, 2007 - Are the Taliban "The Enemy" or Not? -- Jeffrey Imm
September 29, 2007 - Afghan president offers Taliban a place in government for peace deal
September 29, 2007 - The Daily Telegraph: Taliban unveils hardline Afghan constitution
September 29, 2007 - UPI: Taliban constitution made public
U.S. State Department Poster: "Wanted - Mullah Omar - Up to $10 Million Reward" -- "Although Operation Enduring Freedom removed the Taliban regime from power, Mullah Omar remains at large and represents a continuing threat to America and her allies".
U.S. State Department Updated List of Wanted Terrorists - not including Mullah Omar
September 11, 2007 - 9/11 and the Inconvenient Truths about Jihad and Islamism -- Jeffrey Imm