Armed men under the orders of Haji Baran, district commander of the Taliban in Ghazni province. Karim Ben Khelifa / Oeil PublicFrom Time Magazine:
While much of the focus on Tuesday's unveiling of President Obama's revamped Afghanistan strategy will be on the number of U.S. troops he's expected to send, that decision is really a sideshow to the critical battle now under way on the ground. Far more important to prospects of victory in Afghanistan is jump-starting a moribund effort to woo nonideological Taliban fighters to switch sides in exchange for paying jobs. Pentagon officials are hoping to repeat the success of similar tactics in Iraq.
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My Comment: Every month a number of stories are published that promote the idea that the Taliban can be wooed to switch sides .... when all the evidence is the contrary.
The Soviets tried to do this extensively in the 1980s, and it failed miserably. The reason why is simple .... no religious Taliban soldier or leader will ever give up on his religious beliefs for cash. The war against the Soviets was constructed as a religious war against the infidel communists .... and it was successful (helped with hundreds of millions of dollars in aid from the West). This war in Afghanistan is being constructed the same way .... a war of liberation against the infidel West.
Our best hope in Afghanistan is to work with the more than 400 different tribal groups that make up most of the country. They can be bought with aid and assistance, and they have the means to stop the Taliban. Will this be the policy pursued by the White House .... stay tune till after tomorrow's West Point speech by President Obama.