It is inconceivable that the Obama administration thinks there can be negotiations with Afghanistan’s radical Muslim Taliban.
The president cannot have forgotten that the brutal Taliban regime sheltered Osama bin Laden and other leaders of the al-Qaida terrorist network — the network that slaughtered nearly 3,000 Americans on our own soil on Sept. 11, 2001.
Yet Taliban leaders have met with U.S. officials to discuss “trust-building measures,” The New York Times reported recently. And a handover of five Taliban leaders now held at a U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is being considered. The Obama administration previously deemed the men too dangerous to be permitted to leave. Have they suddenly become peace-loving?
There is no evidence, moreover, that the Taliban in general have turned over a new leaf and are now suddenly amenable to good-faith negotiations as the United States’ military involvement in Afghanistan continues.
To the contrary, the Taliban are noted for their vicious rule of Afghanistan during the years prior to the 9/11 attacks, and there has been little sign of moderation since.