It seems that the US and coalition forces are coming to a negotiated ceasefire with the Taliban and that they will be involved in the future running of the country.
So after all the military and civilian casualties does this mean that we are returning to the pre 2001 staus quo?
If so, what have we achieved and why did so many have to die to achieve it?
I’ve put this in GD rather than GQ as it is likely to attract non factual opinion rather than have a definitive answer.
Also this wiki article gives a good overview of the war.
I read this as saying that they’d like to start talks to achieve a negotiated peace, not that a settlement is now at hand. It sounds like he’s also acknowledging that further fighting may be necessary to convince the Taliban to come to the table.
And is your quote actually a paraphrase? I don’t see that language in the linked article. I read him as saying that he’s not closing the door to individual Taliban members participating in the government after a negotiated peace – not that the Taliban as an organization would be part of the government.
Not according to the article you cited in you OP. Reading through it, it seems to me that they are opening the door to START DISCUSSING a POSSIBLE non-military resolution to the current fighting.
No. Where are you getting this extraordinary assertion from? Certainly not from the article you cited in the OP, which says nothing of the kind.
We have thus far achieved taking the Taliban out of control of Afghanistan. In addition we have seriously hammered AQ training, C&C and logistics in Afghanistan. I seriously doubt that any negotiated peace the US may eventually agree too will EVER see either the Taliban back in full control of Afghanistan a la pre-invasion, OR see AQ able to openly have training and logistics facilities in Afghanistan. If we achieve nothing else, those are pretty worthy in and of themselves.
You could have put it in GQ, since the factual answer is ‘You misread the article you cited in the OP…it dinna say what you seem to thin’ it says’.
You won’t believe me but it was a direct quote from the original article with no editing. I can oinly suggest the article has changed since I read it. Unlikely I admit, but it was the only page I had open at the time.
General David Petraeus, the head of the U.S. Central Command, said the fighting would get harder before the situation improved, as the United States sends an extra 30,000 troops to break a stalemate in Afghanistan.
But both he and General Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, held out the possibility of eventual talks with the Taliban leadership to end a war which is now into its ninth year.
While Karzai was working on a formal reintegration program for Taliban fighters – expected to win backing at an international conference in London on Thursday – talks could eventually be held with their leaders, Petraeus said.
“The concept of reconciliation, of talks between senior Afghan officials and senior Taliban or other insurgent leaders, perhaps involving some Pakistani officials as well, is another possibility,” he told The Times newspaper.
McChrystal told the Financial Times he hoped increased troop levels would weaken the Taliban enough for its leaders to accept a peace deal and held out the possibility the Taliban eventually could help run the country.
“It’s not my job to extend olive branches, but it is my job to help set conditions where people in the right positions can have options on the way forward,” he said.
“I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past,” he said when asked whether he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future Afghan government. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100125/ts_nm/us_afghanistan_4
This isn’t anything new though. Petraeus was saying we’d have to negotiate with the Taliban to get peace two years ago. We’re there until we can withdraw without looking weak or a president wins a second term and can leave with no political consequences. The current strategy seems to be to declare victory, hand over to the (rubbish) Afghan army, then run for the hills leaving a handful of special forces to continue going after the couple of hundred AQ people that haven’t moved to Yemen or Somalia yet.