Let's Give the Taliban A Big Bear Hug

On March 20th, in my article, Opening the Door To Iran, I said that the US needed to, "...decide if the Taliban is our friend or foe and act accordingly..."

My friend and fellow blogger Maxomai, rather bluntly points out, "Karzai wants the Taliban off the UN black list. As revolting as this idea is to me -- given the Taliban's history of being a force of tyranny, superstition, and oppression -- I have a hard time seeing how they're a national security threat now that they've disowned and are at war against Al Qaeda."

Today, at an international conference in the Hague, Secretary of State Clinton said, "We must also support efforts by the government of Afghanistan to separate the extremists of al Qaeda and the Taliban from those who have joined their ranks not out of conviction, but out of desperation,"

While I would love to pat myself and Maxomai on the back, and praise how well great minds think alike, I doubt that is what is going on. (And, I greatly believe M would feel the need to go wash his brain if I compared his mind to Hillary Clinton's.) What I believe it means is the same thing it always means: our enemy is becoming our friend because they now hate our bigger, meaner, enemy, too.