What a disaster–
Barack Obama’s peace partners, the Taliban, released this video in September after they attacked an Afghan base and killed two US Marines.
It was just one of hundreds of attacks by the Taliban on US soldiers and bases.
Obama was hoping to talk the Taliban into a peace deal. But the Taliban had a different idea. Today Obama’s peace plan is in shambles.
The NY Times reported:
With the surge of American troops over and the Taliban still a potent threat, American generals and civilian officials acknowledge that they have all but written off what was once one of the cornerstones of their strategy to end the war here: battering the Taliban into a peace deal.
The once ambitious American plans for ending the war are now being replaced by the far more modest goal of setting the stage for the Afghans to work out a deal among themselves in the years after most Western forces depart, and to ensure Pakistan is on board with any eventual settlement. Military and diplomatic officials here and in Washington said that despite attempts to engage directly with Taliban leaders this year, they now expect that any significant progress will come only after 2014, once the bulk of NATO troops have left.
“I don’t see it happening in the next couple years,” said a senior coalition officer. He and a number of other officials spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the effort to open talks.
“It’s a very resilient enemy, and I’m not going to tell you it’s not,” the officer said. “It will be a constant battle, and it will be for years.”
It’s not clear what will happen to the Taliban’s taxpayer funded office in Qatar.
