"U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told an international conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday that those members of the Taliban who abandoned extremism must be granted an "honorable form of reconciliation."
The Taliban's response was swift.
"They have to go and find the moderate Taliban, their leader and speak to them. This is a lunatic idea," Mujahid said by telephone from an unknown location.
"There is no other way. We want our freedom and respect for our independence," Mujahid said.
See, Hillary is a unprincipled pragmatist, and doubtless views the offer of "reconciliation" -a return to that global village that is seemingly required for such things as raising children, perhaps- as something profitable, which only requires the public swapping of a few privately held convictions, something which she does on a daily basis. It's a win-win, right?
But this is why we cannot find victory in Afghanistan. We do not understand our opponents. These are not men who change their principles as they change their garments. They will fight, and die, for what they believe in. Our current administration, by contrast, uses principles as talking points to buy favor, while fully embracing a post-modern view that there are no absolutes.
Well, here is an absolute for you. The Taliban are wrong, their views and actions contain much that is evil, and they are also not going away until you destroy them or re-educate succeeding generations and wait for the older ones to die out. Islam does a fairly comprehensive job of shaping the worldview of each generation of adherents, by the way, so don't count on "winning hearts and minds" on a large scale basis among the hardcore Islamists in the south of Afghanistan.
"If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."
We (or those at the top of the decision-making process: unprincipled bureaucrats) clearly do not understand our enemy, men of courage and principle. Our leaders clearly do not understand themselves, as the angst, doubt, and guilt-ridden liberal psyche so painfully reveals. There is therefore no means of victory, until men of iron-clad convictions lead the way.
Bush, for all our disagreements with him, was clearly a man of convictions. He was a leader that our enemy could truly hate, as their declared foe, and one that could secure victory over them. Unless Obama abandons his teleprompter, learns to love that which is true over that which is convenient, and finds a spine, he will be to our enemies merely an object of contempt.
Perhaps he should consult that bust of Churchill, which he snubbed the Brits by returning, to find out what sort of thing a leader is.
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We can't expect anyone in this administration to to understand anyone who operates from a position of principle, regardless of whether or not the position is a good one. Not everyone can be reasoned with, bought off, threatened or bullied. Some enemies you just have to kill. Our current administration does not subscribe to that concept as they have no princples themselves.
This entire administration's motto should be "The end justifies the means".
It's amazing too, because the terrorists will literally say "at the first chance you give us, we will destroy you." And our politicians reply "oh, no, haha, no reasonable person would say that. Here, let us give you some money. That's probably what you're really asking for." And they say "Great. We will use this money to destroy you."
And our politicians reply, "Now, now, if you keep talking like that, you don't get to sit at the table with the important people, like us."
Repeat ad nauseam, and you have something like our current situation.
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