This isn’t admittedly much of a diary entry, I didn’t see anyone else write of this and thought it should be flagged. Please help me out here isn’t the reason we went into Afghanistan in the first place was to stop the Taliban?
ABC:Tillerson says room for Taliban in Afghan government
U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday there is a place for moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan's government as long as they renounce violence and terrorism and commit to stability. He also delivered a blunt warning to neighboring Pakistan, insisting Islamabad must step up action against terrorist groups that have found safe haven within its borders.
Speaking on an unannounced trip to Afghanistan where he met Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah and other senior officials at Bagram Air Base north of Kabul, Tillerson said the Taliban must understand that they will never win a military victory and should prepare to negotiate with the government.
"Clearly, we have to continue to fight against the Taliban, against others, in order for them to understand they will never win a military victory," Tillerson told a small group of reporters allowed to accompany him from the Qatari capital of Doha. "And there are, we believe, moderate voices among the Taliban, voices that do not want to continue to fight forever. They don't want their children to fight forever. So we are looking to engage with those voices and have them engage in a reconciliation process leading to a peace process and their full involvement and participation in the government."
The HILL:Tillerson sees place for Taliban in Afghan government
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday said there is room in the Afghan government for moderate voices from the Taliban.
“Clearly, we have to continue the fight against the Taliban and against others in order for them to understand they will never win a military victory,” Tillerson told reporters in Afghanistan. “And there are, we believe, moderate voices among the Taliban, voices that do not want to continue to fight forever. They don’t want their children to fight forever.
“So we are looking to engage with those voices and have them engage in a reconciliation process leading to a peace process and their full involvement and participation in the government. There’s a place for them in the government if they’re ready to come renouncing terrorism, renouncing violence and being committed to a stable, prosperous Afghanistan.”
So once again short of genocide you can’t beat insurgencies. You blow up innocent people, you poison innocent people and at the end of the day you sign a peace treaty with the insurgency.
