Vote Taliban in 2010?

Photo by flickr user The U.S. Army under a Creative Commons license

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Instead of fighting the Taliban, why not encourage them to run for office? Tell them to form their own political party, and they could officially govern many of the local Pashtun areas already under their control. Think of it: “Vote Taliban in 2010.”

That’s one of the proposed solutions offered in a Financial Times op-ed on Tuesday with some fresh ideas on how the West can best exit Afghanistan. In a bloody conflict where tangible solutions are as rare as authentic election ballots, the op-ed’s authors—Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s former ambassador in Washington, and Anatol Lieven, a professor at King’s College London—offer Western leaders some food for thought in avoiding a disastrous exit, and a framework for withdrawal that hasn’t figured much into US debates on the issue.

Chief among their arguments is the need for no less than a complete decentralization of Afghanistan’s government, “a move from a presidential to a parliamentary form of government.” This makes sense, given how little Kabul’s influence extends beyond its limits. In this context, the Taliban could become a political party that would rule in local Pashtun areas and share power with Kabul—that is, on the condition that they “pledge not to permit sanctuaries for terrorism in areas it may dominate.” The need for this pledge, the authors continue, is that signs that “the Taliban’s alliance with al Qaeda may be fraying need to be seriously tested.” (On Sunday, Hakimullah Mehsud, new leader of the Pakistani Taliban, called his group’s relationship to al Qaeda one of “love and affection.”)

The notion of legitimizing the Taliban raises plenty of suspicions and questions. How could the US take the Taliban at its word? And who’s to say Talib governance over Pashtun villages would look any different if the Taliban were a political party? Would they still threaten to maim and kill people who vote? Would they continue to ruthlessly repress Afghan women?

More importantly, Lodhi and Lieven say the West needs to talk to the Taliban—that opening negotiations with the enemy, if possible, is one of the few ways to achieve a less-than-disastrous denouement to the Afghan war. If negotiations commence, a ceasefire could be agreed upon, perhaps in exchange for a phased withdrawal by occupying forces.

The authors discuss a few more necessary steps for Western forces. I highly recommend reading their argument, and whether or not you agree, they are at least putting forth some substantive ideas for a debacle in dire need of them.

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

AN IMPORTANT UPDATE

We’re falling behind our online fundraising goals and we can’t sustain coming up short on donations month after month. Perhaps you’ve heard? It is impossibly hard in the news business right now, with layoffs intensifying and fancy new startups and funding going kaput.

The crisis facing journalism and democracy isn’t going away anytime soon. And neither is Mother Jones, our readers, or our unique way of doing in-depth reporting that exists to bring about change.

Which is exactly why, despite the challenges we face, we just took a big gulp and joined forces with the Center for Investigative Reporting, a team of ace journalists who create the amazing podcast and public radio show Reveal.

If you can part with even just a few bucks, please help us pick up the pace of donations. We simply can’t afford to keep falling behind on our fundraising targets month after month.

Editor-in-Chief Clara Jeffery said it well to our team recently, and that team 100 percent includes readers like you who make it all possible: “This is a year to prove that we can pull off this merger, grow our audiences and impact, attract more funding and keep growing. More broadly, it’s a year when the very future of both journalism and democracy is on the line. We have to go for every important story, every reader/listener/viewer, and leave it all on the field. I’m very proud of all the hard work that’s gotten us to this moment, and confident that we can meet it.”

Let’s do this. If you can right now, please support Mother Jones and investigative journalism with an urgently needed donation today.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate