Afghan President Declares Taliban Beaten

[rodbarnett]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Thursday declared the Taliban defeated, suggesting much of the violence in his country is caused by criminals rather than guerrilla holdouts.

<snip>

But Karzai's statements on the Taliban, the former rulers of Afghanistan and bin Laden's native ally, were some of his strongest yet.

"The Taliban as a movement does not exist any more," Karzai said. He said former Taliban members and leaders are frequently approaching his government to seek permission to return home.

Karzai said they could, as long as they were not members of al-Qaida and not committed terrorist acts.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-rumsfeld-afghanistan,0,53459.story?coll=sns-ap-nationworld-headlines

[leesa]

1. Right. "Criminals" and "terrorists" on flying pigs.

[chelsea0011]

2. Now, if he could get the warlords to throw in their arms...

Afghanistan news is in short supply but my understanding is Karzai has little to no power beyond Kabul. In other words..the Taliban might be defeated but someone else with their own army is biding time waiting for their turn in power. And which warlord will take control? And what will be the fate of Afghan people?

[underpants]

3. The warlords don't want to rule the country just their parts

Anyone who tries to take power over the entire country basically becomes the king of the hill and all the others would take him down and take his land and scope of power. Even when the Taliban ruled they only ruled part of the country and had to deal with the warlords, Karzai governs less area than they did.

[loudnclear]

4. Yeah, and the 'war on drugs' is won!

eom

[FloridaPat]

5. Must be taking the same reality pills Bush is.

[progressivebydesign]

6. He's been partaking of Poppy's poppies...

Okay.. fine.. and Ghadafi is America's new best friend. How could Bush have fucked up the entire world in three short years? It just shows how fast greed and ignorance can destroy anything.

[mmm]

7. the Taliban of yesterday is a citizen today

all parts are interchangeable. you can count on one thing:
the animosity toward the US must be incredible!
ask any Taliban you happen to see and they will tell you
that 'vengeance is a dish best served cold.'