They All Look Alike

A stereotypical and outdated perception of blacks? No. Unfortunately, it could be the approach Obama takes with the Taliban.

Hoping to mirror some successes the US had in Iraq with the Sunnis, Obama has thrown around the idea of reaching out to some "moderates in the Taliban" to achieve some sense of stability in Afghanistan. I'm all for diplomacy, but this can't really be what he is thinking, right?

First off.. who are the moderates in the Taliban? By definition, Shariah Law is the most rigid form of Islamic fundamentalism around (personally, I can't help but notice the latent homosexual overtones that abound within this truly stone age ideology). Young girls and women are beaten and raped without reprisal and strictly forbidden from learning (or working, or showing any skin other than their hands, or allowing their footsteps to make noise, or walking past open windows while inside, or leaving the home without a closely related male chaperone, or being treated by male doctors, etc.) This is an idea that needs much more time to cook.

Second, why would the Taliban care to speak with the US about consolations when they are already calling the shots in Afghanistan? They control at least 75% of the country which is mostly lawless and have the whole country controlled with fear. There is no opposition that is noteworthy. The current government is bearing the torch of Benazir Bhutto's message, but has no teeth to take legitimate action. What would they have to gain? Surely we would be asking them to make concessions on several current practices which would be deemed out of alignment with Allah's master plan.

The fact is, W should've made plans to invade Afghanistan on September 12th, 2001 and he fucked up. I always knew Obama would need to clean up his mess, but this isn't the right course of action. Iraqis are not the monsters some have made them out to be. They treat their women with dignity (albeit in a different way than we do in America). The Taliban is narrow-minded and evil. Shariah Law is a blasphemous distortion of the Islamic faith intended to control out of fear. The offenses of the Taliban are numerous and hard to stomach. If we needed to kill hundreds of thousands of "browner" people, this would be a much more deserving lot.

I love you Barack, but as has been stated on this site plenty of times before, you cannot reason with these people. You need to change the way they view the world and themselves. To do so, you need to remove the leaders who promote this message of hate and restriction. I know there's oil if you can get lines from the Caspian Sea secured, but why don't we fix the economy at home first, alright?