obama buddies up to the taliban....thoughts?

[eaglethebeagle]

If need be I will link all the different news articles if someone else doesnt do it first.

with the recent news that obama was in astan and having talks with the taliban and stated that they are going to be apart of the future politics of that country how do you all feel about this?

He is essentially saying the enemy that we have fought against and thousands of men and women have died fighting not just Americans all ISAF have done it all for nothing. We have wasted lives of all these men and women only to try and join hands with the taliban now.

Before I spout off my thoughts I want to hear others thoughts..... most already know my opinion on obama anyway.

[gazzthompson]

Not new, sounds like a good idea. As Petraeus has said:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1FK-JdLEN4

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=6132704#.T6F7lKv2baA


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-mSp5ysP3U


"I do think you have to talk to enemies," Petraeus said on Oct. 8 in a speech at the Heritage Foundation in Washington. "I mean, what we did do in Iraq ultimately was sit down with some of those that were shooting at us." The idea, officials explained, is to negotiate from a position of strength, supporting talks with those willing to renounce violence and hunting down those who don't.

And as you, and lots of other people here have said politics and war go hand in hand. If we can get a political AND military end, great and we should TRY!

But, of course As Obama is doing it, its obviously different. he is obviously a Muslim Taliban top secret alien from space hell bent on destroying the world.

[BrendenF11]

So where does it end? There is no way that the current state of global politics will change any time in the near future or long term future anymore. Is the only way to fight this current enemy to wage massive wars in foreign countries? If that is the case, then an immediate draft needs to be instituted (honestly it should have been as soon as we went to war with Iraq). Defense spending also needs to go by times two, along with the amount of money that we will have to put forth to rebuild nations and offer condolences to the families of all the colateral damage that will be caused. Then if we are going to maintain that type of a strategy just fuck it. Nuke em. They want to live the way they live, and it isn't how we live or by any set of values we hold close to ourselves. If we are goinging to maintain this type of warfare indeffinetly it is no longer a war on terrorism, but a war between two different cultures/peoples. The one that forces the other into slavery or wipes the other off the face of the earth is the victor.

Personally I don't like the US negotiating with the Taliban, and I don't think that we should be at all. However, let the afghans negotiate all they want, it's their shit hole of a country. I personally like the thought of pulling out of Afghanistan sooner than later, tomorrow would be preferable, and using other means to fight terrorism. Special operations, drone attacks, advisors. Everything we have been doing the past few years all across the world, it's much more cost effective money wise and the human toll is a lot more limited (on our side, I don't care about their side). The current administrations strategy of using these various types of methods seem to be pretty sound, and casualties have been minimal while dealing devastating blows to the enemy. I am pretty sure that these strategies and methods are not devised by just the administration itself, I am pretty sure a very influencial group of high ranking military personel are in on the decision making process. Seeing as how the top method is not sustainable, or logical, a more descrete method of eliminating our enemies seems like a better idea, and also a lot less costly to our country in men and money.

[eaglethebeagle]

So where does it end? There is no way that the current state of global politics will change any time in the near future or long term future anymore. Is the only way to fight this current enemy to wage massive wars in foreign countries? If that is the case, then an immediate draft needs to be instituted (honestly it should have been as soon as we went to war with Iraq). Defense spending also needs to go by times two, along with the amount of money that we will have to put forth to rebuild nations and offer condolences to the families of all the colateral damage that will be caused. Then if we are going to maintain that type of a strategy just fuck it. Nuke em. They want to live the way they live, and it isn't how we live or by any set of values we hold close to ourselves. If we are goinging to maintain this type of warfare indeffinetly it is no longer a war on terrorism, but a war between two different cultures/peoples. The one that forces the other into slavery or wipes the other off the face of the earth is the victor.

Personally I don't like the US negotiating with the Taliban, and I don't think that we should be at all. However, let the afghans negotiate all they want, it's their shit hole of a country. I personally like the thought of pulling out of Afghanistan sooner than later, tomorrow would be preferable, and using other means to fight terrorism. Special operations, drone attacks, advisors. Everything we have been doing the past few years all across the world, it's much more cost effective money wise and the human toll is a lot more limited (on our side, I don't care about their side). The current administrations strategy of using these various types of methods seem to be pretty sound, and casualties have been minimal while dealing devastating blows to the enemy. I am pretty sure that these strategies and methods are not devised by just the administration itself, I am pretty sure a very influencial group of high ranking military personel are in on the decision making process. Seeing as how the top method is not sustainable, or logical, a more descrete method of eliminating our enemies seems like a better idea, and also a lot less costly to our country in men and money.

Well said I would agree with you mostly. The part that I feel is not appropriate is dealing with the taliban. There is no need to work with them or deal with them. Karzia and astan truly doesnt need to deal with them either. By doing that you are empowering them and perpetuating their belief that they are a worthy cause and have equal respect as America and Karzia and the astan government.

You should ostracized them and continue to battle them in the methods you talk about but do not give them fair billing as partners. You are giving them recruiting material that they are important their methods should be respected.

[BrendenF11]

I in no way would advocate the US dealing with the taliban on any level. The Afghans can sort out their own afairs now, we have done our part and done it quite well there are a shit done of dead fanatics because of us and there will be more.

This is the clearest and most sensible option, in my opinion. We own Afghanistan, and they should know that by now much like the Pakistanis have found out over the past few years. The Afghans are going to have to figure out how to deal with the taliban and keep them under wraps, that's why they negotiate with the taliban not us. Cut off any aid if the taliban gain any actual kind of power, cool deal works for me. It also equates to Afghanistan reverting back to what it was after the Soviets left, for the most part atleast. Let them have it and live the way they want, we have enough influence there now to maintain control through other means than being on the ground like we are now.

Something does still need to be done though, and negotiations are the only way a war is ever ended, without annihilation. That isn't happening any time in the near or long term future, and while we are in country it is certainly not happening. That being said we can not leave Astan the way we left it in after the Soviet conflict, that left a lot of burnt edges to those of islamic culture. It is not tayloring to Islamic culture, it is finishing what we started unless our intent is to kill everyone, and ensuring that we prevent any future sites for terrorists to operate from and fund operations. Will it go away for good, no absolutely not (hell it hasn't even in our own country look at yesterday), but it will prevent the situation that the US was in before the 9/11 attacks.