Wednesday October 29, 2008

I've Been Thinking:

There are many reasons never to talk to the Taliban.
There are many more reasons to talk to them.
The Taliban is not a monolith.

The Taliban is composed of hundreds of small groups, tribes and families.

Many of the tribes are not at all connected to the hierarchy of the Taliban, they belong because it is an affiliation that keeps them safe.

The United States must not speak to the Taliban leadership.
The United States can and must speak to Taliban mid level chiefs and warlords.

The hierarchy of the Taliban is spun like a web, the people the United States speaks with must be carefully vetted and proven to have good connections and good Intel.

Most of the time, lower level Taliban leaders are willing to make agreements even with the enemy in exchange for something they want. Sometimes it is weapons, sometimes information, sometimes access, sometimes respect.

The United States must first know what it happening on the ground.
Then the United States uses that intel to get to the higher echelon Taliban on US terms, not Taliban terms.

Use the group to destroy the group - that is the only way.

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