I agree, I'm not sure that the Taliban will ever be fully removed.  View

Exacerbating the diificulties of the drug trade are at least two additional factors- a profound lack of natural resources and a poorly-educated populace. Those are all very difficult realities. Still, by keeping the Taliban running they (  View

Baradar is certainly a significant figure in terms of the Taliban, and I would agree that his capture means the U.S. and Pakistani governments are working together closely. Otherwise, I doubt the U.S. could have obtained the necessary intelligence for catching such a high-level leader in the Taliban world. As far as France 24's questions as to whether this is negative for any potential Afghan-Taliban peace discussions, it could very well be. Then again, there is no assurance that such talks would really happen and truly hold if they did. It's an extremely tough call, and there are plenty of lives at stake.  View

Yeah it's a significant blow to the Taliban, this guy is a big deal. It would be huge if we could get Omar and bin Ladin too, but the Taliban will keep bringing more fighters into the country regardless.  View

I think it's interesting to look at that quote from Xinhua. Clearly, the Afghan civilians see the Taliban as dangerous and as killers, yet to them, the NATO troops are murderers as well, particularly if one of their friends or relatives was kileed by such a man or woman.  View

Why does "negotiating" with the Taliban even come up? They're our inferior in every way and they hate the very core of Western society. I sincerely believe anybody who considers "negotiation" is a viable option is utterly clueless about the culture that gives rise to groups like the Taliban. And I suspect that may be a symptom of our cultural disconnect that the panelist brought up.  View

If it's true that the Taliban will stay put and die fighting and this heads-up allows civilians to escape, then why not advertise? However, based on arguments from the 2004 incident, why would you assume they'll stay? If it is a trick - they will definitely not be keeping with the plan of saving civilian lives.  View

I would not be surprised at all if this military tactic is a crafty trick the U.S. plans to pull off. Like the video said, last time the U.S. announced an attack ahead of time, it did not work as planned. Having this lesson from history in mind, as well as the knowledge that the Taliban are booby trapping the region and have a large amount of insurgents gathered in the area, the Americans may be pulling a brilliant fake-out.  View

just b/c the U.S. has no shortage of mercenaries who are paid large sums as military contractors doesn't mean that it we can penetrate a the taliban soldier's ideology with funds. How much and for how long? If we want to funnel cash into the region it should be in the form of economic incentives aimed at rebuilding the nations infrastructure. This is a short-term fix for a long-term problem.  View

This plan does seem very desperate. I fear other terrorist groups will be angered by the economic pay-offs going to the Taliban and we could have an even worse problem. Why would we want to give any amount of money to such a dangerous group?  View