Why should I talk to you?
They're tough negotiators, those Afghan Taliban. They knew power, and they relished it, and they intend, against what the West considers to be all odds - to recover it. They will leave no elementary school untouched, no medical clinic untorched, no teachers alive, no women without burqas, no music, no dance, no colourful foliage, no celebratory occasions to the devices of the West; the better to corrupt weak-minded Muslims eager to succumb to the allure of the forbidden.And, of course, this is the contingent of Muslim scholars, the righteous and the pure of heart with whom Hamid Karzai seeks to sue for peace. Willing, some might hazard the guess - eager - to offer plum government posts to the Taliban as long as he and his cronies too are permitted to remain in power. An unholy alliance in the guise of a pacified and united Islamic agreement to govern Afghanistan wisely and with justice for all.
Muslim women should rejoice, for their patriarchal society has their very best interests - and those of their children - in mind and at heart. It is best that they not be seen in public, and certainly never without all-encompassing shrouds. And it is far preferable that they remain ignorant and unschooled, and their children taught the Koran solely in Arabic which they do not speak nor understand. That is a sufficient curriculum.
Afghan farmers know good agricultural land and the value of food crops as opposed to growing poppy fields, for one type of crop only barely sustains them, while the other brings them cold, hard cash to be used to import food crops from elsewhere. And the poppy, the opium, the heroin, is most helpful in funding the Taliban's exalted leadership, and in feeding the hunger of addiction.
The Taliban are prepared to bargain with the Government of President Hamid Karzai. There are several priorities which must first be attended to. "For the Taliban side it's all about the blacklists and the release of prisoners as a goodwill gesture. Those are the main issues - as well of course as the withdrawal of foreign troops. After that, in the later stages, would be talks about the setting up of a joint government."
Clear on this vital issues? Who is calling the shots? The vanquished and beaten Taliban, that's who. We know they're on the run, NATO so informs us. NATO is also eager to conclude the decade of skirmishes and IED deaths. More than prepared to complete its training of the Afghan police and military, leaving both capable of defending their own country.
Of course it is clear that NATO must leave; above all the American troops, all the combined one hundred thousand foreign troops which together have not been able, with the assistance of Afghanistan's armed forces and police in dissuading the Taliban from their purpose. And it is the Taliban who issue the directive:
"Until you leave my home I don't want to talk with you. You occupied my home, you captured my dignity. Why should I talk to you? To surrender to you?"Why, why indeed?
Labels: Afghanistan, NATO, Traditions, Troublespots
posted by Pieface @ Wednesday, November 03, 2010
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