the u.s.a. and all the power in it,is privately owned by a handful of evil ghouls and THAT IS the problem !!!!they no longer care about influence,cause if you or anybody else in this world,dont like it...they will bomb,infect,starve,genocide or ecocide you into submission or oblivion,whichever comes first.we need to remove all the toys,cash and power out of their sticky greedy evilghoul hands,or our very days will REMAIN numbered.the bush masters have mastered the art of control and they are driving this bus and all its passengers,straight to hell.remove bushes and cheney,and all their cronies and we may have a chance to alleviate the downward spiral america has been forced into.

Isn't another part of the problem the fact that America is unable to achieve any of its ends without committing some sort of crime?

The US has been irrelevant since the occupation of Iraq begun.

America has now reached the end of its juvenile Mike Hammer phase in which the gleeful devotion to the fist to the face and the steel-toed boot to the groin have given us Vietnam and now Iraq, soon to be joined by Iran. America, the strutting little tough guy talking out of the side of its mouth, who can recite every line from every James Cagney, Edward G. Robinson and George Raft movie ever made but can't tell you what the Declaration of Independence or the constitution have to say. Don't worry, punk. When the mortgage crisis takes this country down the tubes, you'll have to hock your .45's in order to eat.

@Mordechai Shiblikov: As I recall, some of the 'tough guy' death scenes were quite horrific -- both dramatically and otherwise. One wonders what the more recent versions may be like. Nevertheless, it is to be hoped that your prophecy is more accurate that Cheney's vision of the 'death throes' of resistance in Iraq.

While the title of this article is spot on, it is ironically filled with much of the "conventional wisdom" that leads to the declining US influence throughout the world.

But the situation cannot change until Carroll, and other liberals, base their analyses on something that resembles reality.

"America's man in Pakistan lurches toward tyranny." Musharrif has always been a dictator who took office in a coup. He is a lnong-time asset of the CIA. Pakistan has pretty much been controlled by the ISI, the internal security service created by the CIA. The US encouraged and helped Pakistan to develop nuclear weapons capability. The US, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan jointly created and directed the mujahadeen movement that morphed into both the Taliban and Al Quaeda. US policy visa v Pakistan has been one of tyranny, repression, militarism and murder since the creation of the country. No lurching there.

"Washington's aggressive moves against Russia, from NATO expansion to missile defense, have helped resuscitate Moscow's paranoia - and Vladimir Putin's KGB instincts." This began at the end of WWII, or even the Russian Rev. Nothing new here except Putin has more chops and oil money than his predecessors. The fact that he came out of the late-Soviet, post-Soviet KGB probably means that he cut his teeth as a CIA asset as well. Oh those boys can be dangerous to Daddy when they grow up.

"At Annapolis, the effects of years of US neglect of Middle East diplomacy were on full display." Oh c'mon Jim. This aint about neglect. This is about the US support of Israel and the influence of AIPAC and the rest of the pro-Israel lobby. They've never been neglected.

"Latin America is contemptuous of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, but cheers his anti-American diatribes." This knee-jerk slap at Chavez has been corrected many times on this website and elsewhere. Why does Carroll persist in vomiting it up?

And on-and-on and on-and-on. As long as commentary lacks the most basic historical developments and facts, the words lack relevance -- other than continuing to encouragepeople to look through distorted lenses.

PS:

The US has not been absent from Africa ever since the pre-US economy was based on slavery and stole tens of millions of Africans, many millions of whom did not even make it through the demonic "middle passage."

That was accompanied by the theft of material wealth, primarily minerals, for centuries, CIA post WWII interventions in the new self-governing African nations (like the US-engineered assassination of Patrice Lumumba), the creation of Liberia, the on-going support of the South African apartheid regime, and the support of the Rhodesian regime, and early support of IDI Amin and too many other dictators to mention during the Cold War. Europe, of course, was many times worse, but our intervention there is not new and has never been benevolent.

And see for yourself how our defense equipment is being used to violate people's civil rights in Iraq -
http://www.yikers.com/video_us_tank_crushes_iraqi_civilians_car.html

The MIC has to be replaced with the 'Social Industrial Complex' devoted to domestic egalitarian projects like infrastructure, universal health care, housing for the poor and the environment. Do you think the MIC will go along with that?

"When the only tool you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail."

tj,

Thanks for your inciteful post.

canuckchuck,

Thanks for your (always)clarity and precision.

While America is the epicentre of the spiritual rot and moral malaise in the West, it is surrounded by Quisling leaders in Canada, Mexico, Australia, and Europe... countries with strong independent traditions that could have stood up to the obvious mendacity and militarism of the "Bush/Cheney putsch". What was the worst these SOB's in Washington could have done to a concerted first-world stand against them... sanctions? "freedom fries"?

Australia's role in Iraq, Canada's in Afghanistan, and the pathetic British under Blair, are a chapter of appeasement and shame for historians to detail in the decades to come. At least France under Chirac--for all his manifest flaws--said no to taking part in the invasion. And the Spanish people managed to overthrow their own Bush Quisling and get out; while the French now have an American Quisling, back in. Let's not even talk about the fools running east European countries who allowed the Americans to install an "anti-missile" screen as a piece of grand political theatre, pissing off the Russians to counter a non-existent Iranian threat.

And who then did stand up to American imperialist tyranny and genocide in Iraq? The Iraqis, the Turks in refusing to allow the US to invade Iraq from their territory in the north, the Iranians in refusing to whimper and beg for mercy, The Pushtun/Afghan resistance in Afghanistan which now has NATO on the run, Hezbollah in completely derailing the racist Zionist test-run assault in southern Lebanon, North Korea run by a bonafide whack-job (but has nukes and therefore got a deal with the Yanks finally), and the "fly in your face" Chavez--for all his flaws--loosing off rhetorical zingers to show that the southern hemisphere is finally free from CIA thugs and American coerciveness for the most part... all countries and people that had the most to lose in resisting while we, who had the least, sat and equivocated: while Iraq was raped, we "fornicated and read the newspapers".

But mostly the world owes the Iraqi resistence a huge debt for stopping the supposed "hyperpower" in its tracks, revealing it to be racist, stupid beyond belief in its occupation, and more incompetent empire-wise than Rome was under Nero. "Flying tank" Apache gunships are glass-jawed albatrosses any fellahin with an RPG can bring down, and all the hi tech bells and whistles dont matter a damn when you are fighting a foe with limitless RPG,s AK-47s, and explosives. You really do have to put forward boots on the ground at some point and alot of those American boots are now empty--almost 2 full divisions worth of men, gone. Killing a million Iraqi civilians, and sending millions more into exile somehow didn't help.

You see, I don't think they even have the power any more, on top of dissipating their global influence for a generation. Oh yes, they can bomb and wreak incredible havoc from a distance, but their "Drang nach Osten" is clearly over. They can't even drive from the airport to the Green Zone in Baghdad safely, after a "war" that has now lasted longer than WWII.

Many of us are glad. But we do well to note our own country's culpability in this sickening situation.

DR - Montreal

The US: All Power, No Influence

As if influence should be the goal? The Boston Globe's dead-end agenda is revealed.

In stark contrast, the progressive agenda is universal equity and justice. Progressives know where to shift their exchange/association to support the progressive agenda.

Hardly 'news' (and 'suspect', coming from Gates, who just swung a new-base in Suriname to threaten-Venezuela...).

Listen more to George Kennan [I'm getting to dread hearing from those named 'George') of the U.S. State Department in 1948:

"The US has about 50% of the world's wealth but only 6.3% of its population. In this situation we cannot fail to be the object of envy and resentment. Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity without positive detriment to our national security. To do so we will have to dispense with all sentimentality and daydreaming, and our attention will have to be concentrated everywhere on our immediate national objectives. We need not deceive ourselves that we can afford the luxury of altruism and world benefaction. We should cease to talk about such vague and unreal objectives as human rights, the raising of living standards and democratization. The day is not far off when we are going to have to deal in straight power concepts. The less we are then hampered by idealistic slogans, the better."

There you have the gist of our "diplomacy" since pre-1948. 'There's nothing new, nothing to see here, folks...move-along'.

I've been a long-time admirer of James Carroll's columns in the Boston Globe, but I agree with some of you about several observations of his.

Alexnosal; Excellent comment, my friend! This is what the whole world needs.

The bully will be stopped eventually, but in the meantime, millions die and suffer.

Putin is well-liked by his people and the "robber-barrons" who plundered the region in the 90's are just sore losers. And the "sleeping giant" is wide awake, arming to the teeth.

The US is all over the African continent for various reasons and setting up shop. So is China.

Again, Alexnosal...what you have said is why we must vote and support Dennis Kucinich in state primaries and in next year's election.

Canuckchuck; Good point.

Mordechai Shiblikov; Well stated, and easily substantiated by talking to 'Joe Average'.

Absolutely spot on article !

What a waste, what an enormous calamity the US leadership has imposed on itself and the world. Just think what could have been achieved under even half decent leadership in the last 60 years but all we got was war, war and more war. What are these idiots trying to prove, that they're not really cowards, they would have gone but for etc. etc.

Our only hope is that none of the old guard get elected next year, a faint hope, that's if Bush doesn't organise another 9/11 and cancel the election.

They could have bought the oil ten times over for what it cost to lose a war in Iraq but of course that would have been the sensible course and that wouldn't do would it.

TheLorax, that video says it all. It wouldn't surprise me that if it weren't for the film makers present those thugs would have left the people in the car as they crushed it.

Gone are the days of U.S. GI's handing out gum to grateful children. The US is now an imperialist monster, drowning in it's arrogance.

Just my little entry here. The United States is now fully steered by uncivil forces that literally crush the life out of people and this tiny planet. Sociopathic behavior now defines our leadership and it grows more "normalized" everyday. Bullies and predatory figures are upheld as the conquering dominators of decision making and policies.

If we define being American in accordance to upheld ideals and not people -- we clearly see they are not American by any standard -- they are not even what I regard as human. They now seek to redefine ideals -- and by so doing will try their best to cause us to redefine ourselves and our meaning. Nightmares will be dreams. Demons will be heroes. And death will mean life.

Excerpt from Pres. Eisenhower's "Military-Industrial Complex" speech in 1961:

" A vital element in keeping the peace is our military establishment. Our arms must be mighty, ready for instant action, so that no potential aggressor may be tempted to risk his own destruction.

Our military organization today bears little relation to that known by any of my predecessors in peacetime, or indeed by the fighting men of World War II or Korea.

Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But now we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense; we have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security more than the net income of all United States corporations.

This conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence -- economic, political, even spiritual -- is felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources and livelihood are all involved; so is the very structure of our society.

In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.

We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together."

Add Big Oil, Halliburton, Big Pharma and a president who is their willing tool and you have the current disaster.

Jeffrey Courian----very eloquent words indeed. I wish I had the power to shield everyone from this dreadful force that seems to have overtaken us. We must remember though that the Light will never be extinguished even if they try to tell us that it has. There have always been keepers of the Light and keepers of the TRuth. Don't lose heart, my friend!There are more Lightworkers than you think.

I agree with much of what DR -Montreal had to say, but it is far too easy to indulge in name calling, without looking into the wider issues. I was a person who voted for Blair in 1997, in the hope that we in the UK could replace a tired/corrupt Conservative leadership, with a Labour party which was vibrant, and which would address domestic, social and World issues in a new way. The truth is that "New Labour" turned out to be more to the right of centre, than the previous administration, aligning it's policies with the capitalist excesses, rather than the common man.
This was happening all over Europe, and indeed the World. France at the time was an exception, shortly to be followed by Spain (only after an attack on their home country). The British Labour and Conservative parties fell into line with a radical right wing, neo-conservative administration in the US. We were always told that Blair was going to use his "influence" over George Dubbya, in order to diffuse the situation in Iraq. We all know what happened next.
It looks as though the power crazed US administration cannot stop itself from rolling out it's "killing machine" at the drop of a hat.
We are too comfortable in the West, and we are divorced from the realities of war, famine and poverty. It would seem that the only reason we want to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan, is because we are taking too many casualties - we are forgetting about the hundreds of thousands of civilians who have been killed. I wouldn't mind betting, that if you told our people that we could fight a war without any of our troops being killed or injured - the majority would say "OK, go for it", because that way, we are somehow not involved, and after all, who cares about "scruffy, anonymous" people in a land thousands of miles away?
I remember the words "Shock and awe", used to describe the initial air attacks on Baghdad, and it seemed to me that the people who chose the words, wanted to liken this to a giant firework display, or maybe a computer game, where you are isolated from reality.
We live in a World, where people have watched films like Rambo, Blackhawk Down, Jarhead etc. and become immune to seeing the all too realistic images which these films portray. It would not surprise me, if the majority of young men join the armed forces nowadays, just so they can get to experience the "thrill" of battle, and kill people just for the "buzz", as if they were taking part in some extreme sport.
"power and influence" are the wrong ideals to be chasing nowadays. Unless you use your power in a constructive and wise way, instead of threatening other countries, or vetoing everything in the UN, just because you can, then a significant number of countries will mistrust/hate you, and will see your involvement as interference rather than help.

The following are MIA's in the battle to regain civil rights in the USA:

Congress
Media
US Electorate

Our "allies" standing up aginst Bush:

Kim "Long Dong" Il
Rasputin
Iraqi freedom fighters
Ahmed "the maniac" Dinijad

Jeffrey Courion; I agree with starofthesea. Your words are prophetic but we are now experiencing a well prepared plan of an authorian dictatorship. Unfortunately, most people fail to connect the dots and prefer letting the media do their thinking for them. And don't forget organized religion. It also has enabled the tyrants in government to succeed in obstructing not only The Constitution and the cherished Bill of Rights, but has been virtually silent on torture and genocide.

This program to take control was started decades ago, after the protest movement during our invasion and occupation of South Vietnam increased in size and especially the semi-insurrection among military people rightfully refusing to follow orders.

Social studies are not taught in schools, labor history is not taught, and what those of us older folks were taught in grammer school...the "system of checks and balances" within the government so no group of thugs would be able to circumvent the law, leading to a dictatorship, has been happening, step by step, since the election of 2000.The pace of "big brother" is accelerating, and with the majority of Americans still in a somnabulistic stroll, the ruling class laughs at us while counting their money.

So many are frustrated, confused, and feel rejected by society, and some engage in a shooting spree for "fifteen minutes of fame" before ending their own melancholy lives. Our society is dysfunctional in spite of the advertisements for products and some of the garbage the entertainment industry produces.

We worship millionaire and billionaires, executive corporate crooks and high-paid sports figures and entertainment celebrities, but when we see our fellow citizens on the picket line, we call them greedy, rather than supporting them and honoring the strike which would help us all.

Perhaps when we pay the price that Imperial Japan and Nazi Germany did, the Americans surviving WW3 will ask themselves the same questions. Why didn't We The People stop them before it was too late?

The empire is doomed,(Thank _______ (insert whatever deity or non-deity).

Loved the short clip on Democracy Now! yesterday of Robert Gates before a meeting of Arab States. When asked the question "Do you think a nuclear armed Israel is a threat", He responded with a simple "No", to the delight and laughter of those assembled. The U.S. is indeed a joke. But, canuckchuck's quote takes center stage. In our present post-empire condition with our only tool to sustain hegemony a hammer, all our problems are put in the perspective of a nail.

The solution of course is to throw out the hammer! The rug must be pulled out from under our military. Death by a thousand pin pricks may well be the best way to accomplish this. From outright mutiny of the best of our troops, (These would be the troops I support) to a little creative "cleaning" by the janitors at the pentagon - "where have all the paperclips gone?" We should begin to take every step we can think of to throw a monkey wrench into the cogs of the MIC. This is where the responsibility of all Americans lies.

Without the military to enable our corporate-imperial fascist government, the hollow shadow of empire can occupy the only space it deserves - the space occupied by a shadow - and a new vision that supports global cooperation in disarmament, environmental stewardship, human rights and a much more level economic playing field can be achieved.

To Dr. Montreal

I agree with you on Iraq and Iran but not Afghanistan. Afghanistan is not the same war and we cannot abandon people to life under the Taliban again. The Taliban are supported by Pakistan and Saudi against the Afghan people and as we all know caused horrible suffering. I am married to an Afghan and would not abandon my mother-in-law in Kabul to the horrors of the Taliban again. As far as Pushtun resistance there isn't an organized resistance. Only 5% of those polled below in all of Afghanistan support a return to the life under the Taliban. Keep that in mind. Afghans don't want to live under these monsters.

From the BBC:

Interviewers spoke to 1,377 people across Afghanistan
Most Afghans are relatively hopeful about their future, an opinion poll commissioned by the BBC has suggested.
They also support the current Afghan government and the presence of overseas troops, and oppose the Taleban.

But the poll suggests that Afghans are slightly less optimistic than a year ago, and are frustrated at the slow pace of reconstruction efforts.

Charney Research spoke to 1,377 people in October and November in all 34 provinces for the BBC, ABC and ARD.

This is the third such survey, and is published to coincide with the sixth anniversary of the fall of the Taleban.

Overall, the figures indicate that the peaceful north of Afghanistan is significantly more satisfied than the troubled south. Most dissatisfaction is found in the south-west, where the Taleban are most active.

The poll suggests that despite another year of conflict, confidence and hope have been dented only a little in the past 12 months.

MAIN EVERYDAY COMPLAINTS
Jobs - 73%
Clean water - 46%
Electricity - 84%
Food - 33%
Schools - 29%

The figures indicate that 54% of Afghans think things are going in the right direction, one percentage point fewer than last year, while 70% described their living conditions as good or very good.

Security issues and the Taleban were the biggest problems facing Afghanistan, according to 56% of the people interviewed (against 57% last year).

One of the most striking findings was the apparent unpopularity of the Taleban and their foreign supporters.

Only 5% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the Taleban (against 4% last year), with 14% of respondents saying they supported or strongly supported jihadi fighters from other countries.

Only 4% would like to see the Taleban return to government.

Against this, 71% of respondents said they supported or strongly supported the presence of US military forces in Afghanistan, with 67% supporting or strongly supporting Nato and its Isaf peacekeeping mission.

Support for both of these has fallen in the past year, however, even though most respondents blamed the Taleban and their allies for most of the violence.

There is relatively good news for President Hamid Karzai and his government - though it is coupled with a warning.

Both are rated as good or excellent by more than half the people interviewed.

But their popularity is continuing to fall.

There is clear, and in some cases increasing, unhappiness with the availability of jobs, roads and other infrastructure, clean water, electricity and food.

Among other key findings:

69% criticise Pakistan for allowing the Taleban to operate
60% want the government to do a peace deal with the Taleban
62% say growing poppies for opium is unacceptable
The Afghan Centre for Social and Opinion Research in Kabul carried out the fieldwork, via face-to-face interviews with 1377 randomly-selected Afghan adults between October 28 and November 17 2007. Poll by Charney Research of New York, commissioned by the BBC, ABC News of America and ARD of Germany.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7124450.stm

"Peaceman" -- your words are "on the mark" in terms of assessing the "how" and "why" we got this way. And "Starofthesea" -- good words and good spirit. Things are ery dark and I sense will get darker. We have to keep striking matches with the confidence that the flame will catch.

Be well,
Jeffrey

One needs to have brains to influence others. I, therefore, will settle for all power, but no brains.

for dcbeltway

Thank you for the detailed response. Alot of what follows is probably well known by yourself, I'll just give the background so I can make my main points.

I would not pose in any way as an expert on Afghanistan (although I did once travel acoss it), and much of my perspective comes from Ahmed Rashid's excellent book "Taliban" (Yale Uni Press 2001); I would, however, note that the term "Taliban" has become a bit of a canard for various "historical" myths as to their role in Afghanistan, and more specifically within Pashtun society.

In short "monsters" is far to broad a tag to be used at this point for a legitimate (whether we like their creed or not--I don't) Pashtun nationalist group that has regrouped and clearly indicated they are unlikely to be pushed out of Afghanistan; indeed, their presence on the ground increases. But who are they at this point?

When you have Hamid Karzai publicly announcing the need to negotiate with the (new apparently less oppressive) Taliban, you get the feeling there are nuances in Pashtun society viz the "Taliban" that we are missing. I see three main myths that need to be corrected:

Myth 1: The Taliban were created by the Pakistani ISI.

Actually the Taliban came about as the result of a fragmented Pashtun resistence to the Soviet regime, When it fell, the country fragmented under warlords and the Pashtuns-40% of Afghanistan's 20 million people--had lost control of Kabul for the first time. The Taliban under Omar initially manifested themselves as a resistance group to local warlords in the Kandahar area. They received help from Pakistani Pashtuns in their madrassas at this stage, but the Pakistani ISI still supported Hikmetyar. The ISI switched to the Taliban when they began defeating Hikmetyar's men.

The reasons for initial Taliban success and popularity were simple: they cleared the roads, removed warlord roadblocks and robbers, brought basic security to the people, and allowed trade via transport trucks from Turmenistan to Pakistan for example. They also brought in a repellent form of Sharia Law as we all know. Pakistan supported their successes for its own well-understood reasons (controlling their western border).

Myth 2: The Taliban are abhorred in Afghanistan today

This is from today's Independent newspaper: "We want the Taliban back, say ordinary Afghans" By Chris Sands in Kandahar:

"...a recent poll of several thousand men in Kandahar and Helmand by the Senlis Council, a Brussels-based thinktank, found that Taliban support among civilians had jumped to nearly 27 per cent. Only 19 per cent in the two provinces felt that international troops were helping them personally.
In southern Afghanistan, said the report, people "are increasingly prepared to admit their support for the Taliban, and the belief that the government and the international community will not be able to defeat the Taliban is widespread".
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2432448.ece

Outside analysts feel that the Taliban have to be included in negotiations:

""The likelihood that we see a decline in insurgency without addressing the concern of the tribal people is very low. There needs to be an integration of the Taliban," said Carl Robichaud, an expert on Afghanistan at the Century Foundation, a nonpartisan public policy research group in New York."
"More voices urge co-opting Taliban"
from Afghanistan Watch Oct. 2006
http://www.afghanistanwatch.org/2006/10/more_voices_urg.html

Basically, the Pashtun reality is exceedingly complex as it is the largest ethnic group (40 million) without its own country (Kurds next), and their homeland straddles this mythic line the British colonialists drew right through their territories in creating Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Taliban galvanized Pashtun resistance when it needed to be and, for better or worse, and drove off the warlords and established their repressive Sharia Law regime.

After the American-backed defeat of the Taliban, the warlords are back, women are still in burqas all over Afghanistan, opium is the country's major export, and Karzai is basically mayor of Kabul. NATO has failed to bring in basic security and the Afghan's are pretty much fed-up with the new occupiers, and the airstrikes killing innocent people weekly.
There is a very good article about Karzai's machinations that appeared online today:

"Karzai Discredits Democracy in Afghanistan" by Bahlol Lohdi at Antiwar.com: http://www.antiwar.com/orig/lohdi.php?articleid=12032

Which brings us to Taliban Myth #3: the Taliban brought bin Laden and Al Qaeda to Afghanistan. This is from the above article:

"One of the canards purposely propagated about the Pashtun Taliban, particularly by their Tajik opponents, is that they brought Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda to Afghanistan. All serious students of Afghan affairs know that this is the big lie that is continually repeated in the hope that it will be accepted as historical truth. The reality that Osama bin Laden first arrived on the scene during the time of U.S.-supported Afghan jihad against Soviet forces in Afghanistan is conveniently ignored by the Tajiks' foreign supporters and their allied corporate media."

In conclusion, and again I am relying upon various secondary reports and am no Pashtun expert, it seems pretty clear that the Taliban role as a catalyst for Pashtun nationalist aspirations continues and is still strong. If there is talk from Karzai, and even NATO commanders are inclined that way at this point, about negotiating with the Taliban, then we can sure they perceive a moderate faction within the doubtless complex and fragmented Taliban movement, one that would be acceptable to talk to in order to end the fighting.

I imagine the Taliban leadership have learned that Sharia Law--their version--is not going to fly, and that they are being offered representation in the government.

Whether this will happen, or whether they will opt for all out war depends upon American actions in the area, and the behaviour of NATO occupation troops. Right now, too many civilians are still being killed.

In any case, no one has ever dictated terms to the 40 million Pashtuns, and no one ever will. You negotiate with whomever has legitimacy... in their eyes.

Thanks again for your comments.

DR
Montreal

Too much rubbish in this article.

"Latin America is contemptuous of Venezuela's Hugo Chávez" (?!?)

"...and Vladimir Putin's KGB instincts."(?!?)

"...the effects of years of US neglect of Middle East diplomacy" (?!?)

"The United States has long been absent from Africa, making only token gestures at helping that continent deal with post-colonial collapse..." (?!?)

James Carroll is obviously clutching to a "benevolent empire" myth. Some kind of "good" empire that helps countries that are going through "post-colonial" collapse. Not "neglecting" middle east diplomacy is also crucial.

Oh my.

Jeffrey Courion; Thanks. I looked at your website and I found it interesting and impressive.