Obama Begins 'Negotiating' US Surrender To The Taliban

The US has confirmed statements by Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid that peace talks will begin between the US negotiators and a Taliban delegation in Doha, Qatar on terms for ending the war in Afghanistan and a U.S. withdrawal.

The talks have been authorized by the Taliban's leader Mohammad Omar.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government is being excluded from the talks, but he's insisting that his High Peace Council will follow up with its own talks a few days later,provided his preconditions are met. The preconditions?

“The conditions are: The talks, having begun in Qatar, must immediately move to Afghanistan,” Karzai said. “Second, the talks must bring about an end of the violence in Afghanistan, and third, the talks should not become a tool for any third-party country” to pursue its own interests in Afghanistan.

Since the Taliban are pretty open about calling Karzai 'a U.S. stooge' and refusing to deal with him, we'll see how that ends up.

The only U.S. conditions are almost exactly what I predicted when I first wrote about the U.S. working with Qatar to open a Taliban office six months ago:

Essentially, the scenario will likely go something like this. In exchange for releasing captured terrorists from Gitmo into Taliban custody, recognizing the Taliban as legitimate political rulers in Afghanistan plus a suitable baksheesh in the form of some more aid money, we will be allowed to retreat more or less gracefully and Mullah Omar and the Taliban will mouth some platitudes about disengaging from al-Qaeda.

Or to quote the New Speak spouted by the Obama Administration, two statements 'opposing international terrorism launched from Afghan soil and supporting the peace process:'

In addition to agreeing to meet with Afghans, the statement issued by Mujahid said “the Islamic Emirate does not want to inflict harm to other countries from its soil” and wants “good relations” with all countries. It said Taliban objectives for the office included “to support a political and peaceful solution.”

A U.S. official said the statement fulfilled the requirements. The Taliban also repeated its demand for an end to the foreign “occupation” of Afghanistan and its goal of establishing “an independent Islamic system” there.

Keep in mind that people like the Taliban don't regard the activities of people like Hamas, al-Qaeda, Lashkar-e-Taiba or Hezbollah to be terrorism in the slightest. And at any rate, any agreements made with an infidel are meaningless anyway as far as the Taliban is concerned.

And that wonderful Islamic system? Pure 7th century, especially when dealing with uppity women:

 





















Yes, the Taliban want to be back in power, want all foreign troops out of the country and want all of their detainees released. They will undoubtedly get everything they want and more.

Those detainees include about 60 prisoners the United States still holds in Afghanistan and five being held at Guantanamo Bay. Most of the rest of the Taliban killers with American blood on their hands were already turned over to the Afghan government by the Obama Administration, so the remainder include some real hard cases.

We might even see a couple of celebrity detainees like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed go free as well, perhaps being turned over to Qatari custody for awhile before being quietly released. The Qataris, who have acted as the Taliban's lawyer throughout the negotiations are a likely choice for role of halfway house in these situations.

Karzai and other members of the Afghan elite who've grown wealthy during our occupation will leave once the Taliban takes over. President Obama never liked him anyway - he was 'Bush's man' - and once President Obama failed in a clumsy attempt to muscle him out of power when he first took over, he ceased working with us or trusting us.

Those Afghan security forces we spent billions to equip and train? Some of the officers, especially the more high ranking ones who were in a position to steal and put a little bit away will likewise leave. The rest will serve Afghanistan's new masters. Like the other Muslim armies we built in Iraq and 'Palestine', the Afghan forces would happily turn those shiny new M-16s we gave them on us if the occasion arose.

This is how Obama's War ends, the Good War, the one he accused President Bush of 'dropping the ball on', the one Obama in his arrogance insisted he was going to win after his overblown campaign rhetoric.

Instead, after a dysfunctional adventure that saw us doubling down on the original folly with no clear goals and with Rules of Engagements that handcuffed our warriors and put them in harm's way to no purpose, we're bugging out. Again, from the original piece I wrote last January:

In Afghanistan, as in Iraq, we have emboldened our enemies, spent blood and treasure and accomplished nothing of real permanence, although it pains me to say it because I have a very real knowledge of the sacrifices involved.

Instead of handling AfPak the way it should have been handled from the very beginning, we blundered in without any clear strategic goals or direction. Once our enemies and for that matter, those whom were willing to be our friends realized our leaders had no idea what they were doing and weren't serious about real victory, the rest was merely a matter of time.

This is a national disgrace unworthy of the sacrifices of the brave men and women we sent there.