In general it cements the impression that the US is anti-Muslim, and plays into the existing anti-American sentiment in Pakistan based on the US-Pak relationship over the years.
We certainly cannot tell whether a plan would work if we do not try it out ... We do know that there were offers along those lines from Taliban representatives, which were dismissed by the US which demanded an unconditional hand over of OBL to US custody.
The base assumption was invalid and has been called out as invalid by even many US analysts who argue (correctly) that the Taliban had no idea about OBL's plans. The reason this canard is not officially dropped by the US is because the US government continues to argue that the Afghan war is the 'good war'. It has already had its Iraq invasion discredited and been maligned for lying about its justifications. The US does not want to have its Afghan war also exposed to the reality that it was a hasty and careless venture that could have been avoided and saved a lot of blood and treasure.
New Recruit
The fact that a variation of the Pakistani proposal, talking with the Taliban, is now back on the table illustrates the fact that the Pakistani proposal was feasible and would have likely worked in 2001. That the Taliban were themselves making offers on prosecuting OBL supports the argument that an accommodation could have been reached with them on the issue, and war avoided.
The only party that was a threat to the West was Al Qaeda, not the Taliban. And Al Qaeda continues to recruit and train people - like I said, you do not need an entire country to do that. Secondly, had the US come to an agreement with the Taliban in 2001, the Taliban would have likely acted against terrorist groups far more effectively than NATO is currently (with none of the local backlash that the US faces as an occupation force) and Pakistan would have had an easier time cracking down on these groups as well.
It has been almost ten years now. There is not a shred of evidence to support the argument that Mullah Omar had any knowledge of OBL's plans to target the West in terrorist attacks.
Err.. sure I'm aware of this forum! You see, this forum happens to rank quite high on the google search results for certain terms. And I, being interested in the ****** situation, frequently google for information on this topic, which leads me to this forum quite frequently.
Going by the general anti-American sentiment here, an American would probably need to hide behind an Indian flag here instead of the other way round, don't you think?
I think your response is simply trying to use key words instead of solid logic to prove a point. No large force operates from a single location. But the importance of HQ can not be underplayed. And specially if the HQ is whole country in itself.
There is still no evidence that Mullah Omar Taliban and AQ were / are not hand in glove. The only reason Pakistan is desperate to prove this is that without doing that Pakistan is losing its key asset i.e. Taliban along with the always wanted strategic deapth in Afghanistan.
You can't be serious about it....AF was turning out to be a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and there propaganda mechanism was at its peak....The least you are supposed to do is break this sanctuary,no....What you seems to be saying is there is no way you can do anything about it, which is plane wrong, to say the least....
You cannot be more wrong on this...Terror camps is the place where you transform your cadets(read terrorist) into hard core killing machines...No internet/house can replace this fact....Taliban controlled AF was providing a safe sanctuary for Al-Qaeda and its likes and that was a serious threat.... People or shall i say Pigs who attacked mumbai were certainly not trained using internet, no???
