Something Don't Jive in Afghanistan

Two recent developments from the West constitute what I consider a surrender in Afghanistan. First, Defense Secretary Gates said last week that the Taliban must be prepared to take a legitimate role in the Afghan government. And second, this came out today:

At the heart of the strategy is an Afghan-proposed reintegration program aimed at bringing low-level Taliban fighters back into normal society, according to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the conference organizer.

Under the plan, which is backed by U.S. and British leaders, the Afghan government would offer jobs, vocational training and other financial incentives to Taliban soldiers willing to switch sides, according to The Associated Press. The goal is to reach out to 20,000 to 35,000 insurgents, but skeptics question whether large numbers would desert at a time when many insurgents may believe they are winning and could outlast Western forces.

Neither of those plans sound to me, like we have the Taliban on the run. Sounds like nothing less than the preface for surrender and withdrawal of NATO forces.

But then there's this.

He is among Afghanistan's most notorious warlords, accused of widespread abuses including the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners. Now he's back, reinstated by President Hamid Karzai in a top army post despite Western demands for sweeping reform.

Karzai this month restored Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum as chief of staff to the commander in chief of the Afghan army - a job he lost in 2008 after failing to cooperate in an investigation into the shooting of a rival.

It could be possible that NATO is trying to put pressure on Karzai by floating ideas of a reconciliation with the Taliban and, as evidence of Karzai's appointment of a ruthless opponent of the Taliban, it's working. Or, the West really is caving and Karzai is scrambling he jets in order to make one last stand, Or, none of the above. But something ain't quite right.