Negotiating with the Taliban...

President Obama recently floated the idea of "trying to negotiate with the moderate elements of the Taliban in Afghanistan." The idea is so asinine that I would have thought it was just another mis-step due to "lack of sleep" (like Obama's absolutely thoughtless gift to British P.M. Gordon Brown), but then Joe Biden went to Belgium to speak "at" a bunch of NATO officials ( http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/11/biden-us-likely-to-try-to-negotiate-with-taliban/ )and suggested that the administration is seriously considering this strategy. The Vice President actually started parsing numbers with us:

"Five percent of the Taliban is incorrigible, not susceptible to anything other than being defeated. Another 25 percent or so are not quite sure, in my view, [of] the intensity of their commitment to the insurgency. . . And roughly 70 percent are involved because of the money, because of them being . . . paid."

Unbelievable. When people start parsing numbers like this, it sure sounds like they're reaching... or making it up entirely. I mean, on what evidence does Joe base his "view" that 25 percent of the Taliban is "not quite sure" if they want to kill anyone who opposes their extremest Islamic beliefs? Did the new administration poll the Taliban? Laugh now, but perhaps this is why the White House took control of the census. Maybe they want the Census folks to start polling our enemies to see if they still hate us now that the immaculate messiah has descended upon the American presidency. Anything's possible with this bunch...

Now, all jokes aside, here's why this idea is just plain dumb: There is no such thing as a "moderate Taliban member." The Taliban, by definition, is a radical group with a well defined (and ages old) religious doctrine which guides their decision-making. Only the "audacious" [read: arrogant] Obama would think that these historically grounded and religiously motivated militants would just lay down their weapons at his immaculate feet. (I mean, he is the messiah after all).

In short, the Taliban wants to impose shari'a law on all people within its control, kill anyone who listens to music, enjoys art, or any other "secular" indulgence, "honor kill" rape victims, murder anyone with an independent thought, and use their territory to train suicide bombers to terrorize the rest of the planet. Which one of those demands do you think Obama believes we may be able to compromise on? The answer, of course, is none of them. This is the key problem with negotiating with religiously motivated groups. Their demands are so extreme, i.e. nothing short of the total destruction of the secular world, that it is impossible to negotiate with them. This is why, in the academic study of terrorism and violence, we separate the politically motivated from the religiously motivated. Concessions can often be made to political groups which can lead to sustainable middle ground between the parties. The Taliban, however, is not one of these groups and negotiations will never be possible with them. Obama, however, seems to have taken a page from Jimmy Carter in thinking that "If we'd just take the time to sit down and understand these people," they'd love us as much as we want them to.