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Ear to the Ground

Taliban Talks Come to a Halt in Afghanistan

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Posted on Mar 15, 2012
AP / Rahmat Gul

Strained relations: Demonstrators in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, chant anti-American slogans following Sunday’s killing of civilians by a U.S. soldier in Panjwai, Kandahar province.

Pointing to “the shaky, erratic and vague standpoint of the Americans” as one key reason for their decision, Taliban leaders in Afghanistan put the kibosh on plans to meet with U.S. envoys, releasing a statement on Thursday explaining the change of plans.

BBC:

US diplomatic sources say the Taliban were told by US negotiators that the Afghan government had to be a part of any negotiations.

The Taliban statement reiterated that the group “considers talking with the Kabul administration as pointless.”

Other conditions reportedly set by the US in the talks include accepting of the Afghan constitution—which the Taliban have rejected—and publicly denouncing al-Qaeda.

The BBC’s Quentin Sommerville in Kabul says the Taliban’s suspension of the talks is a significant setback for efforts to begin substantive negotiations with the insurgents.

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By heterochromatic, March 21, 2012 at 9:53 am Link to this comment

hearing that news fills me with a small sense of accomplishment.

don’t let Sheriff Joe git ya, old loonie…. and shoot the bastert if’n he does.

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moonraven's avatar

By moonraven, March 19, 2012 at 1:39 pm Link to this comment

hettie the hediondo’s rotting hologram is still stinking the place out.

I think I will avoid this site for a couple of days till the stench dies down.

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PatrickHenry's avatar

By PatrickHenry, March 19, 2012 at 1:05 pm Link to this comment

It will be like the fall of Saigon once the combat troops leave, those people have grown to hate us over there and have asked us to leave repeatedly.

The Taliban are not recognized as a military unit who would fall under the purview of the Geneva conventions as they should, just ask those in Gitmo.  They are tribal militia.

Our guys have to abide by the UCMJ.

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By heterochromatic, March 19, 2012 at 12:51 pm Link to this comment

our combat troops will be leaving, but we’ll be staying for a while…....

this is a very bad incident, and very much overblown, of course. 

the Taliban has no cassus belli, but they can certainly exploit this…..for the
Taliban rape is rarely a crime….they have very definitions of rape

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By PatrickHenry, March 18, 2012 at 8:56 am Link to this comment

I wouldn’t be sure of the US remaining in Afghanistan now since the massacre.

We have given the Taliban an moral cassus belli against us and our ouster from their country if they didn’t have one already.

The truth is coming out that Afghan women were raped prior to being killed by several soldiers and not just one.

It only takes one crimminal action to turn an already unpopular military fiasco into an incredibly unpopular one. 

We are there.

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By heterochromatic, March 17, 2012 at 8:47 am Link to this comment

We wont be leaving for a while….so that minute is coming soon…


might be nice if Karzai was toasted prior to our departure, but that’s not likely
either.

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By PatrickHenry, March 17, 2012 at 8:30 am Link to this comment

The minute the US leaves, Karzai is toast.

The Taliban are nothing more than the republican party of Afghanistan and while we do not like them (like Hamas or Hezbollah} they do represent those people in a region which we have no business being in as agressors.

Let the corporate interests fight their own wars with their own assets.

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By moonraven, March 16, 2012 at 12:32 pm Link to this comment

Well the soon to be disappeared Hettie (hoist on its own petard) has given me the laugh of the day, as he begs for objectivity while pimping for patriotism and whites-uber-alles.

I think it’s just about time for a New York cut.

Bring on that massive coronary so I can leave the toxic waste dump that whites have turned the earth into.

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By heterochromatic, March 16, 2012 at 11:59 am Link to this comment

lisa——that’s an interesting analysis——but far from an objective one.

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By lisa, March 16, 2012 at 9:12 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

A more objective analysis might be that the unspeakable has happened - Imperial Savrolia has been defeated by what’s essentially a Fabian Strategy - “Fabian” - so-called as this is the strategy that defeated Hannibal. This method works best against Empires that have succumbed to what Strauss and Ober have called the “Alcibiades Syndrome”. This condition is characterized by “leaders” who always or almost always put their personal fortune before the good of the State. Sound familiar? The obstreperous satrap, Karzai, has the temerity to demand that the Intrepid Imperial Legions return to barracks! That’s, objectively, defeat. So, in the face of that, where’s our Sulla? Their lordships seem to fear just that - imagine! - ordering Marines to stack arms!

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By heterochromatic, March 15, 2012 at 8:27 pm Link to this comment

oh dark bird of carrion breath
some shriveled soul is surely thine

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By moonraven, March 15, 2012 at 5:41 pm Link to this comment

Felicity asked:

“Does anyone ever consider the plight of the Afghani
people?”

Not in the US they don’t, because they don’t consider Afghanis to be white.

Only whites have souls, and “count”—according to the gringo recycled leyes de las indias.

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By heterochromatic, March 15, 2012 at 12:53 pm Link to this comment

FRT——not the legitimacy, but the factual existence,,,,,,, we’re not negotiating
with the Taliban because we admit that they have some kind of legitimacy, my
friend. we’re talking to them because they’re a reality.

just as Karzai & Co. are a reality.

there is no legitimate group in Afghanistan. there wasn’t before we got there and
there won’t be whenever the hell we leave…..all there are is a bunch of ugly
realities.

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By felicity, March 15, 2012 at 11:16 am Link to this comment

Putting myself, in this country, in the position of an
Afghani, how would my life be.  Occupied by a foreign
power (because someone it didn’t like happened to be
living in my country) - living under the rule of a
thoroughly corrupt toady of the occupying country - in
constant fear of a rogue gang of thugs (the Taliban in
Afghanistan) daily threatened with death if I spoke out
against them…

Does anyone ever consider the plight of the Afghani
people?

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By FRTothus, March 15, 2012 at 10:38 am Link to this comment

The US position:

Before we will allow you to engage in the fiction of “peace talks” or “negotiation” with those who have invaded and are murdering your countrymen, you must first acknowledge the fiction of the legitimacy of the puppet government they installed and support.

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