Obama hints at talks with Taleban
BBC
08-Mar-2009 (one comment)

President Obama has suggested there could be talks with moderate elements of the Taleban in Afghanistan as part of a process of reconciliation.

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rosie is roxy is roshan

This has everything to do with US compromising with Iran.

by rosie is roxy is roshan on

Afghanistan (Taliban) is the cause of two of Iran's biggest internal problems: the drug problem and the refugee problem. It is the linchpin of future relationships between the iRI and the US. IRI cooperated with the US in our mission in Afghanistan in 2001 but stopped when stupid Bush lumped them into the Axis of Evil. Now Obama and EU have been working for weeks to get Iran to attend various conferences on the Afghan probblem (including with Russia and China) and finally it looks like it is a go. Obama's strategy has been to intensify military force, whiich has been widely criticzed as a recipe for failure by EU and Tehran, the American left, and by many  American military strategists. Tehran understands Afghanistan far better than the West does and Obama knows this. Afghanistan is the major issue on which IRI and the US need each other desperately and will have to agree. On Palestine and the nukes they will only disagree overall. But Afghanistan is the linchpin of furture negotiations, the goal for which other concessions can be made on both sides. Thus every single step Obama takes there has extreme relevance for negotiation with Iran and they are watching him like a hawk. 

ps even under Bush the idea of a "good" Taliban existed, btw. The idea of this strategy is not new...