Politicians like Federal NDP leader, Jack Layton and others like him who are promoting the idea of Canada negotiating with the Taliban should take a look at what is going on in Pakistan right now.
Fighting resumes between Pakistan and pro-Taliban militants
In September last year, the Pakistani government signed a peace accord with pro-Taliban militants that was supposed to end five years of fighting between them in the North Waziristan region of Pakistan. Under that deal, Pakistan withdrew its military forces from that area in exchange for promises that militant tribal groups there would not engage in terrorist activities.
When the deal was announced, many criticized the Pakistani government decision, as they rightly felt that it would not be respected by the militants. As early as July, militants were already flouting the agreement by launching suicide attacks and bombings.
Militants in Pakistan Flout Peace Agreement
Pakistani authorities on Monday were investigating a weekend of suicide attacks that killed at least 73 people, tracking suspected links between the bombings and the army's recent assault on a mosque held by Islamic extremists.
Now the breakdown in the ceasefire and the resumption of fighting between Pakistani troops and pro-Taliban militants have demonstrated the foolhardiness of ever making such an agreement in the first place. The only beneficiary of this agreement was the militants, who used it to rearm and rebuild their network and resume attacks on civilians in the area and against NATO troops across the Afghanistan border.
It just goes to show that you can’t negotiate with the Taliban or their allies. Hopefully Jack Layton and others like him who want to talk peace with the Taliban will see the foolhardiness of making such a decision.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
The Folly of Negotiating Peace with the Taliban
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3 comments:
When you say "Jack Layton and others like him" are you including President Karzai? Because he doesn't just WANT to negotiate with the Taliban, he's actually doing it.
LKO..you sound like you think that is a good idea..negotiating with these 7th century thugs is always a mooks game.
How about we crush their spirit a little longer and have them crawl to the table on our terms?
Well , whether it's a good idea or no, the man the Tories are supporting in Afghanistan is actually doing it.
It just seems to me to be a bit hypocritical of conservatives to say that we absolutely must continue to support the efforts of President Karzai (the guy who's actually negotiating with the Taliban) and we must absolutely condemn the efforts of Jack layton (the guy who merely says maybe negotiating with the Taliban isn't a bad idea).
I just don't see the logic of supporting the man who negotiates with the Taliban while attacking the man who thinks it's OK to negotiate with the Taliban. If negotiating with the Taliban is such a "mooks game" (which it probably is) shouldn't we deal first with the guy who's doing it, and SECOND with the guy who's just talking about it???
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