From The Danger Room:The top U.S. commander in Afghanistan seems to be backing the notion of reconciling with Taliban -- at least on the local level.
Gen. David McKiernan -- who is commander of both the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S. Forces Afghanistan -- told an audience at the Atlantic Council of the United States that he sees the insurgency divided into roughly two camps:
I like to refer to the Taliban as Taliban with a small 't' -- those who pick up weapons and fight for the Taliban because they are either unemployed, they are fighting for intra-tribal reasons, they are fighting because their family is intimidated, they are fighting for reasons of power, a variety of reasons -- and to the Taliban with a capital 't,' those who perhaps fight for ideological reasons.
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My Comment: I would love to read up on the person who will be ultimately responsible for figuring out who is Taliban lite .... and who is Taliban Hard. This is a job that I would not like to have.