Obama’s Solution For Afghanistan: Pay The Taliban To Stop Fighting
Why do all of Obama’s solution seem suspiciously alike? Car sales slow? Pay people to buy cars. Lending slow? Pay people to take out loans. Business not hiring? Pay them to do government make-work jobs.
Terrorists in Afghanistan won’t back down? Pay them to stop fighting.
The defence Bill due to be signed by US president Barack Obama yesterday contains a new provision that would pay Taliban fighters who renounce the insurgency, Senate armed services committee chairman Carl Levin has said. …
Reaching out to moderate Taliban members is part of the Obama administration’s plan to turn around the eight-year war in Afghanistan. Mr Levin has also advocated trying to convince Taliban fighters to change sides by luring them with jobs and amnesty for past attacks.
Under the legislation, Afghan fighters who renounce the insurgency would be paid for “mainly protection of their towns and villages”, Mr Levin said.
This is somewhat similar to the successful tactic in Iraq that had the US military cooperating with Iraqi militia groups to get them to protect their own neighborhoods and fight the foreign al Qaeda and Iranian-backed terrorists. The problem is that in Afghanistan the terrorists are the Taliban. And paying them to stop fighting would be akin to paying off Iran or al Qaeda to stop fighting in Iraq.
And besides, the strategy in Iraq was developed by military experts like General David Petraeus. Not Senators like Carl Levin.



