US general signals Taliban talks

abe23

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US general signals Taliban talks
The top US commander in Afghanistan has said a negotiated peace with the Taliban is the way forward.

Gen Stanley McChrystal told the UK's Financial Times that there had been "enough fighting" and he wanted a political solution to the conflict.

President Obama's deployment of 30,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan would weaken the Taliban enough to force it to agree a peace deal, he said.

He added that the Taliban could help run the country in future.

His comments come ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan due to be held in London later this week.

"I'd like everybody to walk out of London with a renewed commitment, and that commitment is to the right outcome for the Afghan people," Gen McChrystal said.

Recently, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the BBC that he planned to introduce a scheme to attract Taliban fighters back to normal life by offering money and jobs.

He said he would offer to pay and resettle Taliban fighters to come over to his side.

Mr Karzai said he hoped to win backing for his plan from the US and UK at the London conference.

'Right outcome'

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," Gen McChrystal told the Financial Times.

"I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome. And it's the right outcome," he said.

Gen McChrystal said the arrival of the extra 30,000 US troops pledged by President Obama and the additional 7,000 troops promised by other Nato countries should deliver "very demonstrably positive" progress.

"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.

Gen McChrystal also said that the Taliban could have a role in a future Afghan government.

"I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past," he said.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/south_asia/8478076.stm

Published: 2010/01/25 06:02:22 GMT

© BBC MMX


Personally, I think he's got a point.

Fox news is gonna be angry though. :fire:
 
I'm not angry I don't know why Fox would be. I'm skeptical but it is worth a try. Let's remember that the goal is to co-opt rank and file taliban, not to persuade the hard core. The hard core will continue their insurgency and we will continue having to hunt down and kill them. But if the supply of young men who see no alternative life than as a fighter can be cut off by giving them an alternative, well and good.
 
That comes straight from Obama.

The retreat has begun (as I predicted).

The wrong president at the wrong time. He's not up to the task of keeping America safe.
 
I'm not angry I don't know why Fox would be. I'm skeptical but it is worth a try. Let's remember that the goal is to co-opt rank and file taliban, not to persuade the hard core. The hard core will continue their insurgency and we will continue having to hunt down and kill them. But if the supply of young men who see no alternative life than as a fighter can be cut off by giving them an alternative, well and good.

the ultimate goal would be for people to live and not want to kill all other people. good goal i would say. dont see it working though. as soon as you turn your back the taliban leaders will murder the "tools of the devil" ie x taliban folks trying to live a 21st century life.

really long shot, no doubt bamsters idea.
 
anybody who actually took a world history course would know that fighting in Afghanistan doesn't work. they've held off and expelled invading forces for thousands of years. not even the might of the american military is going to win in Afghanistan.

CJ, you didn't predict shit, if McCain was the POTUS, Afghanistan would be the same shithole it is now, hating invaders just as it does now, successfully expelling them, and there is nothing that will change that.

i think both sides can agree that going to war in Afghanistan was a waste of money. The big bad Alqaeda or whatever, just packed up, and crossed the undefined, unprotected border into Pakistan, or any of the other shit hole countries that surround it. I could see this comming a loooong time ago. Don't give props to yourself, or blame the POTUS CJ. I knew you had a big ego, but daaamn, this is pushing it....

America is going to retreat from Afghanistan, it's no surprise, not to me, not to a lot of people. It's just the way their culture has evolved, no defeat, no surrender, they'll resist the invading force til it's gone. PERIOD.
 
anybody who actually took a world history course would know that fighting in Afghanistan doesn't work. they've held off and expelled invading forces for thousands of years. not even the might of the american military is going to win in Afghanistan.

CJ, you didn't predict shit, if McCain was the POTUS, Afghanistan would be the same shithole it is now, hating invaders just as it does now, successfully expelling them, and there is nothing that will change that.

i think both sides can agree that going to war in Afghanistan was a waste of money. The big bad Alqaeda or whatever, just packed up, and crossed the undefined, unprotected border into Pakistan, or any of the other shit hole countries that surround it. I could see this comming a loooong time ago. Don't give props to yourself, or blame the POTUS CJ. I knew you had a big ego, but daaamn, this is pushing it....

America is going to retreat from Afghanistan, it's no surprise, not to me, not to a lot of people. It's just the way their culture has evolved, no defeat, no surrender, they'll resist the invading force til it's gone. PERIOD.

hey mr 2 years ago, THIS WAR IS LOST, IT A QUAGMIRE. ted kennedy and harry reid on iraq. well we pretty much won there. and it is not necessary that we lose in afghanistan. ask the troops you know coming back. they want to be turned loose on those fuckers but are being held back just as in iraq. face it obama is a super pussy.

fuck i cant stand that clean articulate non negro dialecting son of a bitch....just kiddin :lol:
 
let me tell ya what else this means, obama is giving these generals order of engagement and they are telling him to shove it we aint gonna be sending troops in here. this is mcrystal


"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," Gen McChrystal told the Financial Times.

"I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome. And it's the right outcome," he said


he was saying the exact opposite 2 months ago. generals dont make manpower decisions of 40,000 without deep long thought if it can be won.

in the second sentence he outright lies. all conflicts are ended by decisive winner. he knows that. trust me, those fuckers are swallowing serious shit right now cuz every general who talked anything about involvent in these wars knows the truth. this is an absllute retreat ordered by obama. God help those people.
 
Red is so quick to saddle up to failure.

I did predict Obama would seek to abndon Afghanistan. If you actually PAID attention to O's Campaign speeches, this was HIS war.... the GOOD war, the NECESSARY war.

Apologies aside (I don't require any), I was correct as usual. Obama takes the easy way out....again.

It makes it that much harder on the rest of us. He's not keeping us safe, not at all. It will take another Bush type President to do that.

Hopefully, in three years we will get a man in there.

So how many wasted US lives in Afghanistan since Obama took over? Where's the daily media blood count? :lol: Oh the hypocrisy....
 
Ok, this is for the 'victory' crowd. I'd like to hear a scenario on how we're gonna get our guys out of there without a political solution?

To me, the only way of achieving our goals in afghanistan at this point would be to choke off the political appeal of the taliban or get them involved in the non-violent political process. As long as the government is corrupt and useless, number 1 isn't going to happen and we're going to have a hard time changing that.

Politically it's a risky proposition and it's definitely a departure from the freedom and democracy rhetoric of the bush administration, but I like the we're know being pragmatic about how to go about things rather than being on some ideological crusade.
 
Ok, this is for the 'victory' crowd. I'd like to hear a scenario on how we're gonna get our guys out of there without a political solution?

.

easy, WIN. kill the bad guys and win. just like every other war in the history of war. where you been?
 
It will take a heavy footprint. Obama knows this already, and has already projected his reluctance to actually pursue victory.

The military knows what has to be done to win.... it is exactly the POLITICS which prevents it.

My feelings on Bush are mixed, but one thing I give him credit for.... he played for the WIN. If he was still President and Iraq now stabilized, he wouldn't have been wishy washy about Afghanistan while our boys were getting killed over there for 10 months..... he would have supported the troops and maybe, unlike Obama, really consulted with the military. Obama asks his political advisers....not his generals....a classic mistake. Just ask Hitler.....

Our enemies do not fear Obama ... and that is bad, very. More blood spills by projecting weakness than strength..... true dat.
 
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