Two Articles That Explore Possible Future Talks With Some Members Of The Taliban

FRIENDS? FOES? Backers of a pro-Taliban cleric in the Swat Valley who signed a truce with Pakistan. B. K. Bangash/Associated Press

Dreaming of Splitting the Taliban -- The New York Times

HERE is a proposition that is bound to cut deep into the national psyche: Should the United States seek to negotiate with some of the same people who gave sanctuary to Osama bin Laden prior to the Sept. 11 attacks?

President Obama is sending an additional 17,000 American troops to Afghanistan, as part of his effort to try to put a tourniquet on the hemorrhaging war effort there. He has ordered a strategic review of United States policy there, and tasked a diplomatic behemoth — Richard C. Holbrooke, architect of the Dayton accords — to try to do in Afghanistan what he did in Bosnia. And he has, within days of assuming the presidency, taken ownership of the war in Afghanistan, with all of the Vietnam-era references to quagmire that come with it.

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Is Talking To Taliban The Right Approach? -- CNN:

(CNN) -- President Obama says the United States could be open to reaching out to some moderates in the Taliban in a manner similar to successful efforts with Sunni militants in Iraq.

But two analysts Monday expressed separate cautions about such an effort.

In an interview published in The New York Times this weekend, Obama said some military leaders believe part of the success in Iraq has come from reaching out to Sunni militants there.

Regarding the Taliban in Afghanistan, the president said that while the situation is much more complex than in Iraq, "There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and Pakistan."

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My Comment: What is Afghanistan .... a few distinct ethnic groups, followed by 400 different and distinct tribal groups, followed by thousands of villages and extended families ... and the Taliban is networked everywhere.

The goal of talking to the Taliban may be a noble one .... but from where I am standing I would think it will be quite an undertaking to find the ones that you should talk to.

This is something that the Afghans themselves must work out .... and I can only hope that they will be able to work it out sooner, rather than later.