Comments on: What Kind of Negotiations Should There Be Between Karzai and The Taliban? http://washingtonindependent.com/11822/what-kind-of-negotiations-should-there-be-between-karzai-and-the-taliban National News in Context Thu, 26 Nov 2009 02:33:34 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Swat: Pakistan Ratifies Defeat « The Stupidest Man on Earth http://washingtonindependent.com/11822/what-kind-of-negotiations-should-there-be-between-karzai-and-the-taliban/comment-page-1#comment-18549 Swat: Pakistan Ratifies Defeat « The Stupidest Man on Earth Tue, 17 Feb 2009 09:38:04 +0000 http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=11822#comment-18549 [...] The fact is that the Pakistani government has just ceded to its mortal enemy control of a swathe of land that, unlike the country’s other troublespots, is neither a tribal area nor borders Afghanistan. I understand the need to stop the killing, but this will not stop it. I understand the need to check the Taleban’s advance, but this will not check it. It’s not a peace agreement; it’s just another ratification of defeat on the ground. [...] [...] The fact is that the Pakistani government has just ceded to its mortal enemy control of a swathe of land that, unlike the country’s other troublespots, is neither a tribal area nor borders Afghanistan. I understand the need to stop the killing, but this will not stop it. I understand the need to check the Taleban’s advance, but this will not check it. It’s not a peace agreement; it’s just another ratification of defeat on the ground. [...]

]]> By: Stan Wright http://washingtonindependent.com/11822/what-kind-of-negotiations-should-there-be-between-karzai-and-the-taliban/comment-page-1#comment-37167 Stan Wright Sat, 29 Nov 2008 07:40:34 +0000 http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=11822#comment-37167 What's usually ignored in the US is that when we say "Taliban", what we're talking about is the political vehicle of large parts of the Pashtuns, the dominant tribe of southern Afghanistan. The Taliban was their vehicle, and in that region, tribe trumps ideology and has for millennia.<br><br>The other thing that tribe trumps is government. We persist in pretending that Afghanistan is a nation at war with an ideology. That's not what's happening to afghan eyes. To them, it's one more round in the thousands of years to tribal power struggles. As long as our ideological blinders prevent us from even seeing what's happening as it is, not what our ideology needs it to be, we're going to go on failing.<br><br>Karzai will be talking about splitting up the power pie. Who's going to rule which districts. Who's going to get paid, and how much. Other markers include the heroin trade, access to 'development' funds, and lip service to which alien model of government. Just as the present Afghan 'government' carefully laundered the warlords of the Northern Alliance by naming them regional governors, etc., so too is the Taliban going to have to be laundered in a similar manner. What's usually ignored in the US is that when we say “Taliban”, what we're talking about is the political vehicle of large parts of the Pashtuns, the dominant tribe of southern Afghanistan. The Taliban was their vehicle, and in that region, tribe trumps ideology and has for millennia.

The other thing that tribe trumps is government. We persist in pretending that Afghanistan is a nation at war with an ideology. That's not what's happening to afghan eyes. To them, it's one more round in the thousands of years to tribal power struggles. As long as our ideological blinders prevent us from even seeing what's happening as it is, not what our ideology needs it to be, we're going to go on failing.

Karzai will be talking about splitting up the power pie. Who's going to rule which districts. Who's going to get paid, and how much. Other markers include the heroin trade, access to 'development' funds, and lip service to which alien model of government. Just as the present Afghan 'government' carefully laundered the warlords of the Northern Alliance by naming them regional governors, etc., so too is the Taliban going to have to be laundered in a similar manner.

]]> By: Stan Wright http://washingtonindependent.com/11822/what-kind-of-negotiations-should-there-be-between-karzai-and-the-taliban/comment-page-1#comment-13158 Stan Wright Fri, 28 Nov 2008 23:40:34 +0000 http://washingtonindependent.com/?p=11822#comment-13158 What's usually ignored in the US is that when we say "Taliban", what we're talking about is the political vehicle of large parts of the Pashtuns, the dominant tribe of southern Afghanistan. The Taliban was their vehicle, and in that region, tribe trumps ideology and has for millennia.<br><br>The other thing that tribe trumps is government. We persist in pretending that Afghanistan is a nation at war with an ideology. That's not what's happening to afghan eyes. To them, it's one more round in the thousands of years to tribal power struggles. As long as our ideological blinders prevent us from even seeing what's happening as it is, not what our ideology needs it to be, we're going to go on failing.<br><br>Karzai will be talking about splitting up the power pie. Who's going to rule which districts. Who's going to get paid, and how much. Other markers include the heroin trade, access to 'development' funds, and lip service to which alien model of government. Just as the present Afghan 'government' carefully laundered the warlords of the Northern Alliance by naming them regional governors, etc., so too is the Taliban going to have to be laundered in a similar manner. What's usually ignored in the US is that when we say “Taliban”, what we're talking about is the political vehicle of large parts of the Pashtuns, the dominant tribe of southern Afghanistan. The Taliban was their vehicle, and in that region, tribe trumps ideology and has for millennia.

The other thing that tribe trumps is government. We persist in pretending that Afghanistan is a nation at war with an ideology. That's not what's happening to afghan eyes. To them, it's one more round in the thousands of years to tribal power struggles. As long as our ideological blinders prevent us from even seeing what's happening as it is, not what our ideology needs it to be, we're going to go on failing.

Karzai will be talking about splitting up the power pie. Who's going to rule which districts. Who's going to get paid, and how much. Other markers include the heroin trade, access to 'development' funds, and lip service to which alien model of government. Just as the present Afghan 'government' carefully laundered the warlords of the Northern Alliance by naming them regional governors, etc., so too is the Taliban going to have to be laundered in a similar manner.

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