The Taliban/Al Qaeda Link & the Facile Reasoning of Afghan War Supporters Posted by Michael Cohen

Over the past 18 months one of the key rationales that has been used to justify the US military presence in Afghanistan is that if the Taliban are somehow allowed to return to power in Afghanistan they will once again provide a safe haven to al Qaeda. Indeed, President Obama, when he announced a troop surge in December 2009 made this exact argument to justify the increased US military presence in Afghanistan.

However, this has always been something of a dubious argument, both on strategic grounds, but also basic common sense - after spending ten years to get back into power would the Taliban really allow the same organization that caused their demise to set up shop again as if nothing had happened and thus open themselves up to US military attack? 

Now thanks to Kandahar-based researchers Alex Strick Van Linschoten and Felix Kuehn we have a bit more meat on the bones of this argument - a new report that suggests the links between the Taliban and al Qaeda are not permanent and can be exploited for US political and military gain.

1. The Taliban and al-Qaeda remain distinct groups with different goals, ideologies, and sources of recruits; there was considerable friction between them before September 11, 2001, and today that friction persists.
2. Elements of current U.S. policy in Afghanistan, especially night raids and attempts to fragment the Taliban, are changing the insurgency, inadvertently creating opportunities for al-Qaeda to achieve its objectives and preventing the achievement of core goals of the United States and the international community.
3. There is room to engage the Taliban on the issues of renouncing al-Qaeda and providing guarantees against the use of Afghanistan by international terrorists in a way that will achieve core U.S. goals.

I won't try to summarize the entire report, but I recommend taking the time to read it. It provides and important basis for understanding why the foundation of the US mission in Afghanistan - preventing an return to al Qaeda in Afghanistan - is not only wrong, but actually might be self-perpetuating. In other words, by continuing the current strategy we may be strengthening the adversary our war is nominally geared toward weakening.

At the same time, if one wants to understand the intellectual bankruptcy of those who fervently and unthinkingly support continuing the current mission read what Max Boot has to say about this report:

It is worth noting that the authors have collaborated with a leading Taliban figure on his autobiography and have publicly opposed the American-led war effort in Afghanistan. Their “report” reads suspiciously like the Taliban propaganda line.

There is no doubt that the Taliban and al-Qaeda are distinct organizations. But there is also no doubt that they are closely linked — even more so now than they were in 2001, when the Taliban could have remained in power if they had simply handed over Osama bin Laden to the United States. Mullah Omar refused to do that, and he has steadfastly refused to renounce al-Qaeda in the years since, when it would be very much to his advantage to do so. Why would Mullah Omar & Co. suddenly turn on al-Qaeda if they were back in power? Talk about wishful thinking.

A couple of things here. First of all the authors worked on a memoir of a former Taliban, Mullah Zaeef - an important read if you want to get a better understanding of what motivates Taliban fighters. But of course in Max Boot's world seeking to understand the Taliban is akin to supporting them (and of course the none too subtle effort to link Alex and Felix to the Taliban - "collaborated" - is a grubby and obvious effort to invalidate their work. Classy as ever Max). Second, I'm not aware that Alex and Felix have publicly opposed the war in Afghanistan - but so what if they did. Can only those who support the current war effort actually criticize it? By this measure no one should take seriously anything Max Boot has to say because he is a knee-jerk war supporter.

But the worst part here is Boot's simplistic and unsupported reasoning for why this carefully researched report is wrong. He claims there is no doubt the Taliban and al Qaeda are closely linked - but actually provides no evidence, except the bizarre notion that Taliban thinking remains unchanged over the past ten years. He bemoans the fact that Mullah Omar won't trade away the chit of collaboration with al Qaeda - but why would he do such a thing before any serious negotiations with the US and/or the Karzai government?

By this argument America's enemies are not only incapable of strategic and pragmatic behavior, but should unilaterally disarm and rely on the good graces of the United States and its allies. Lastly, is it really impossible to recognize that the Taliban might have reason to turn on al Qaeda if they are returned to power - especially since the limitations on the use of US force that existed pre-9/11 certainly do not exist today and because al Qaeda would provide almost no benefit to the Taliban. At the very least isn't this a potential cleavage that we should be trying to exploit instead confidently declaring that the relationship between two organization with very different orientations and grievance structures is inviolate for all time?

Honestly, it's not a big surprise that war-addled correspondents like Boot would make this sort of argument - what's troubling is that this sort of shallow and facile reasoning actually shapes US policy in Afghanistan.

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