Let's be clear, here, we're not talking about Rosie O'Donnell. It's a different Rosie.

IMHO, the op-ed piece discusses two options: Militarily annihilate the Taliban or start negotiating. Option 1 will take a long, long time since every time you wipe out Taliban you disaffect more Afghanis and create more Taliban. Option 2 rewards bad behavior.

I think there's a third option: Maneuver the Taliban into a position where it's in their best interests to moderate their views and become part of the political dialog. Honestly, I don't know if that's even possible considering how relentless and resolute the Taliban have been in their beliefs. It's been done before...I'm thinking about the power-sharing deals worked over the years in Nicaragua with the Sandinistas and the Khmer in Cambodia.

Can religious fundamentalists be moderated politically? $64 million question.


>Read it all.
>
>http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/515217