Taliban Reject U.S. Offer of Honorable Reconciliation

The Taliban referred to the United States' and Hillary Clinton's concept of honorable reconciliation as a "lunatic idea." Apparently, Taliban leaders are comfortable in the idea that they simply share no common ground nor common goals with the U.S. government. The new diplomatically-focused approach by the Obama administration was designed to draw the combatants into some type of dialogue, at which time the U.S. would presumably seize any opportunities to make peace deals. Instead, the plan in Afghanistan may seem to be backfiring to a degree.

By offering the idea that the U.S. is willing to reconcile with Taliban who have abandoned extremism (how do you test for that?), the U.S. may have tipped its hand that its ultimate goal in Afghanistan is to get out of the country without looking bad in the process. And for all intents and purposes, that horse may have left the barn.

The Bush administration, for all its bumblings and bad intelligence, at least understood the concept that the goals in each side of the current global conflict are entirely different. All the other side has to do is wait us out and they will be able to legitimately declare themselves victorious. If U.S. goals are not achieved, then it will be considered a defeat for the U.S. and the U.S. military.

By extending the possibility of honorable reconciliation, the U.S. has shown the Taliban that it's getting a little desperate and is willing to try anything to start making progress on its Afghan agenda. And that may be all the Taliban needs to dig in for the long haul.