"What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
Goodness, I don't know. I would have no idea how to interpret this message.
KABUL—Insurgents killed a senior adviser to President Hamid Karzai at his Kabul home on Sunday night, the second assassination in a week of an influential official from southern Afghanistan and a major setback to the government's power there. ...
His death followed last week's assassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai, the president's half brother. Considered the most influential power broker in the south, Ahmed Wali Karzai was the provincial council chief for Kandahar, the homeland of the Taliban.
In a sign of how close he was to the Karzai family, Mr. Khan last week put his turban on the head of Ahmed Wali's successor as head of the Popolzai tribe, said Shah Wali Karzai, the president's brother and a friend of Mr. Khan's. A Taliban bombing of a mourning ceremony afterward killed Kandahar's top Islamic cleric.
"Who is next? What kind of message are the Taliban sending here?" said a Western diplomat.
That question kind of sums up the problem with Western diplomats.
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Jul '10
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
There are people in this world that pronounce the b in subtlety.
Jul '10
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
I honestly don't think Afghanistan will be really worse off with the loss of Mr. Karzai's brother. Everything I have heard about him in the past suggests he was a gangster. That said, Pakistan and the Afghan government represent the most bizarre American "allies" in history. Both of these tottering states are nominally in our camp but do nothing to stop the truly dangerous threats that seek to take over. Instead, they often actively collude with the Taliban/al qaeda. The Soviet Union was a more reliable and predictable ally! Despite their shady espionage, we didn't have to worry about them making deals with the Nazis or refusing to fight Germans in their own country. It's pretty obvious what the Taliban are saying. They are gangsters, albeit with a religious drive as well. "it's our way or the high way.". If you oppose us, we kill you. If you cozy up to us, ehhh, we'll probably still kill you.
Jan '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
The Taliban is clearly signaling the need for a surge of diplomacy, and any diplomat who can't see that is simply a blithering idiot.
Jul '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
More critically, how will this corrupt bi-polar with erratic medication compliance take these messages? Why can't Karzai be the one next time? He is a strange bedfellow indeed.
Edited on Jul 17, 2011 at 10:57pmMar '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
I think the message is - they are at war with us and we are watching American Idol.
Not only in Afghanistan.
Jun '10
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
I wouldn't go that far. They remind me a lot of the South Vietnamese government.
The thing to remember here is we don't want to promote democracy in these places. We want people who will do what we want, what we say, without questions. Our "allies" are frequently the most corrupt people available because that's what we want and what we pay for. And that's what we get.
Jul '10
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
Robert E. Lee
I wouldn't go that far. They remind me a lot of the South Vietnamese government.
The thing to remember here is we don't want to promote democracy in these places. We want people who will do what we want, what we say, without questions. Our "allies" are frequently the most corrupt people available because that's what we want and what we pay for. And that's what we get. · Jul 18 at 12:44am
I don't think that W ever got that memo. In fact, if I recall correctly, Tony Blair did everything he could to make that happen and W stood firm while Blair's political career flapped in the breeze.
And, of course, Obama is so pronounce the b in subtle lame that he publicly chastised Karzai, ostensibly his ally, for corruption. And the pot spaketh unto the kettle thus: Verily, thou art ebon. This Regime doesn't lampshade much, do they?
Mar '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
The Taliban message in words even a 'Western Diplomat' should be able to understand:
You (the West) are leaving because you are war weary and have "lost", all the blather to your "bill payers" back home notwithstanding. Clearly the Taliban want us in the West to know that while we are tired of dying for what we claim is our goal, they are not. They have neither the need nor the desire to wait until we have functionally departed next year. They want to rub our noses in the fact that a decade of bullets and blather from the West have not changed a hair on the chinny chin chin of way of life of Afghanis. Well, except now they will have to get their $$$ indirectly rather than by U.S. government check.
It is silly and sad beyond words. When will we ever learn? The twelfth of never sounds about right.
Mar '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
The double facepalm. For when one facepalm isn't enough.
Apr '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
And a DOH!
Mar '11
Re: "What Kind of Message is the Taliban Sending Here?"
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
That question kind of sums up the problem with Western diplomats. ·
Indeed, shockingly once again our experts are baffled! I would say an example of Buckley vindicated yet again, replacing the State Department with the first 400 people listed in the Boston telephone directory I imagine would eliminate the overwhelming majority of the foolishness we see masquerading as foreign policy.