Say Anything Blog

So let’s, you know, negotiate with the terrorists.

  U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Monday that the Afghan guerrilla war can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Taliban and their supporters into the Afghan government.

  The Tennessee Republican said he had learned from briefings that Taliban fighters were too numerous and had too much popular support to be defeated by military means…

  Sen. Mel Martinez, a Republican from Florida accompanying Frist, said negotiating with the Taliban was not “out of the question” but that fighters who refused to join the political process would have to be defeated.

  “A political solution is how it’s all going to be solved,” he said.

I’m not quite ready to jump off a bridge like these guys are, but I’m plenty disappointed.

The Bush doctrine, following 9/11, was that we would not give any quarter to terrorists or those who sponsor/aid/abet terrorism.  The Taliban, I shouldn’t have to remind you, was the regime in Afghanistan that had a working agreement with Osama bin Laden.

One of the big reasons why I’m supporting President Bush and most Republicans come November is the fact that those guys are playing the long game in the war on terror.  They recognize that yet another “political solution” for the middle east might be politically expedient (and a whole heck of a lot easier) in the short term, but that it ultimately won’t provide a solution to the jihadist problem.  Saying that we can’t beat the terrorists through military means and that we should try to be diplomatic with them instead is handing a victory to the terrorists.  Pure and simple.  No other way to look at it.  And when we hand victories to the terrorists they are emboldened to fight us more.

The only long-term strategy that will work in the middle east is freedom, and we aren’t going to reach that by working with the Taliban.

Update: As per the comment below, Senator Frist has clarified his comments:

I’m currently overseas visiting our troops in Afghanistan, but I wanted to take a moment to address an Associated Press story titled, “Frist: Taliban Should Be in Afghan Gov’t.” The story badly distorts my remarks and takes them out of context.

First of all, let me make something clear: The Taliban is a murderous band of terrorists who’ve oppressed the people of Afghanistan with their hateful ideology long enough. America’s overthrow of the Taliban and support for responsible, democratic governance in Afghanistan is a great accomplishment that should not and will not be reversed.

Having discussed the situation with commanders on the ground, I believe that we cannot stabilize Afghanistan purely through military means. Our counter-insurgency strategy must win hearts and minds and persuade moderate Islamists potentially sympathetic to the Taliban to accept the legitimacy of the Afghan national government and democratic political processes.

National reconciliation is a necessary and an urgent priority … but America will never negotiate with terrorists or support their entry into Afghanistan’s government.

I….guess I’m more confused now then ever.  In the article Frist is reported to have said that negotiating with the Taliban “isn’t out of the question.”  Now he’s saying that America will never negotiate with the terrorists.  Either the article is flat-out lying (a distinct possibility) or Frist is changing his tune.  Sen. Martinez is the one who said that negotiating with the Taliban isn’t out of the question.  Still a stupid thing to say, but it shouldn’t be attributed to Frist.  My mistake.

And what’s this about Afghanistan not being won by purely military means?  Is Frist suggesting that we haven’t been using political means in Afghanistan as well?  We’ve helped that country set up their own democratic government just like in Iraq.  We are fighting in Iraq both on a military front and a political front.

It seems as though Frist is either trying to clear up some wildly misleading reporting or pull his foot out of his mouth, but he doesn’t really seem to be accomplishing either.