US silent on Taliban's al-Qaeda offer

[Dover]

US silent on Taliban's al-Qaeda offer
By Gareth Porter

WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama administration is refusing to acknowledge an offer by the leadership of the Taliban in early December to give "legal guarantees" that they will not allow Afghanistan to be used for attacks on other countries.

The administration's silence on the offer, despite a public statement by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing skepticism about any Taliban offer to separate itself from al-Qaeda, effectively leaves the door open to negotiating a deal with the Taliban based on such a proposal.

The Taliban, however, have chosen to interpret the Obama administration's position as one of rejection of their offer.
The Taliban offer, included in a statement dated December 4 and
-mailed to news organizations the following day, said the organization had "no agenda of meddling in the internal affairs of other countries and is ready to give legal guarantees if foreign forces withdraw from Afghanistan".

The statement did not mention al-Qaeda by name or elaborate on what was meant by "legal guarantees" against such "meddling", but it was an obvious response to past US insistence that the US war in Afghanistan is necessary to prevent al-Qaeda from having a safe haven in Afghanistan once again...cont'd


http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/KL17Df02.html




Calling the U.S.'s bluff on the al-Qaeda rationale for our presence there?

[avaistheone1]

1. Our Laureate has chosen more war instead.

[varelse]

2. Does the Taliban have the legal authority anywhere, to make such guarantees?

Are they legally in control of Afghanistan?

[ShamelessHussy]

5. they were the government in charge before we invaded

and they are the ones who got skin in the game right now, so they can be negotiated with, however, this war is not about the bogeyman so they will not get a response from us except more violence.

[Dover]

6. Good question. Perhaps not wise to acknowledge them as the ruling authority.

On the other hand, it seems that they are just that.

[varelse]

7. Even rejecting their offer would lend legitimacy to their pretense of legal authority

I would not expect our government to make that mistake.

[ShamelessHussy]

3. this war is about much much more than the boogey man

as any fool paying attention can see... they will get nothing but bombs and threats in response.

[necso]

4. How about handing them over? /nt

[ima_sinnic]

8. what!? kill the golden goose? you gotta be kidding!

there will be no "deals" to end the war. It is FAR too profitable. The Taliban needs to STFU and take its payola before it blows the cover right off the War On Terrorism™ for the blood-soaked phony sham that it is.