US Secretly releasing Taliban to gain favor in negotiations.

Streck-Fu · 05-07-2012, 06:45

This will end well and make them like us.

LINK

KABUL – The US has been secretly releasing captured Taliban fighters from a detention center in Afghanistan in a bid to strengthen its hand in peace talks with the insurgent group, the Washington Post reported Monday.

The "strategic release" program of high-level detainees is designed to give the US a bargaining chip in some areas of Afghanistan where international forces struggle to exercise control, the report said.

Under the risky program, the hardened fighters must promise to give up violence and are threatened with further punishment, but there is nothing to stop them resuming attacks against Afghan and American troops.

"Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks," a US official told the Post.

In a visit to Afghanistan last week, President Barack Obama confirmed that the US was pursuing peace talks with the Taliban.

Quote:

"We have made it clear that they [the Taliban] can be a part of this future if they break with Al Qaeda, renounce violence, and abide by Afghan laws. Many members of the Taliban -- from foot soldiers to leaders -- have indicated an interest in reconciliation. A path to peace is now set before them," Obama said.

A stumbling block in the US-Taliban peace talks has been the US refusal to approve the transfer of five Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Qatar, which the Taliban says is necessary for negotiations to proceed.

The clock is ticking also on the US handover of security control to the Afghans.

At the upcoming NATO summit in Chicago, the US coalition will set a goal for Afghan forces to take the lead in combat operations across the country next year.

During his short visit, Obama and Afghan President Hamid Karzai signed a partnership deal that charts a 10-year relationship between the US and Afghanistan once the majority of American and foreign forces pull out of the country in 2014.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/05...#ixzz1uBgQlVUG

BOfH · 05-07-2012, 10:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

This will end well and make them like us.

"Everyone agrees they are guilty of what they have done and should remain in detention. Everyone agrees that these are bad guys. But the benefits outweigh the risks," a US official told the Post.

So (a few) more American lives are worth an ace in the hole at the negotiating table, what @$$holes

greenberetTFS · 05-07-2012, 10:27

Risky,I think it's a lot more than just that,more like STUPID...........

Big Teddy

Streck-Fu · 05-07-2012, 10:30

Maybe the plan is to release them, put them on a bus to transport them back to the Taliban, then blow up the bus with a Predator/Reaper as it approaches the Taliban line.

BOfH · 05-07-2012, 11:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Streck-Fu

Maybe the plan is to release them, put them on a bus to transport them back to the Taliban, then blow up the bus with a Predator/Reaper as it approaches the Taliban line.

Sounds like something the Israelis would do, I don't think this administration has the balls for that...

greenberetTFS · 05-07-2012, 13:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by BOfH

Sounds like something the Israelis would do, I don't think this administration has the balls for that...

Yeah,your right,however if "O" would do it you know that if it failed he'd have someone's ass,if it worked,he's have a special news break telling every one it's was his idea an he gave it a GO.......

Big Teddy

ddoering · 05-08-2012, 05:04

Quote:

Originally Posted by greenberetTFS

Risky,I think it's a lot more than just that,more like STUPID...........

Big Teddy

Yep. Just wait until one of them kills another American. Oblamer will get flamed.

Streck-Fu · 05-08-2012, 05:59

Maybe the DOJ will use them as mules to carry guns to Mexico.

tonyz · 05-08-2012, 07:52

Quote:

Under the risky program, the hardened fighters must promise to give up violence...

YGBSM - "hardened fighters" promise to stop fighting if we let them go...Taqiyya on steroids.

One can only hope that there is a bigger picture - one that includes close observation and a violent demise for these "hardened fighters" - being played by our folks - 'cause we are playing with fire.

Seems to me like there have been some reasonable suggestions previously made in this thread.

Magnolia · 05-08-2012, 11:21

I don't get what the alternative is. We have tried to kill our way out of this war through DA raids and tried COIN and neither has worked. We've been at it over a decade now.

What other card to we have left to play besides negotiation? (that we haven't tried already, that we can afford, that will take the amount of time the public is willing to wait)

I ask this with very little confidence that releasing these prisoners will lead to anything meaningful.

**The Reaper** · 05-08-2012, 16:06

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnolia

I don't get what the alternative is. We have tried to kill our way out of this war through DA raids and tried COIN and neither has worked. We've been at it over a decade now.

What other card to we have left to play besides negotiation? (that we haven't tried already, that we can afford, that will take the amount of time the public is willing to wait)

I ask this with very little confidence that releasing these prisoners will lead to anything meaningful.

How about someone murders several of your family members or closest friends, and is let walk after a few months in jail because he promised not to do it again?

Are you okay with that?

We are 4th and 1 right now. Either finish the job right or get out.

TR

greenberetTFS · 05-09-2012, 06:48

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

How about someone murders several of your family members or closest friends, and is let walk after a few months in jail because he promised not to do it again?

Are you okay with that?

We are 4th and 1 right now. Either finish the job right or get out.

TR

No sir I'm not..........

Big Teddy

Magnolia · 05-09-2012, 09:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Reaper

How about someone murders several of your family members or closest friends, and is let walk after a few months in jail because he promised not to do it again?

Are you okay with that?

We are 4th and 1 right now. Either finish the job right or get out.

TR

I'm going to leave the first part alone because I don't think it makes the decision any clearer. There are lots of things that both parties have done in this conflict that I'm not 'okay with.'

When you say 'finish the job right', I'm not sure what you mean. More of what we've been doing, more DA raids and increased troops, more COIN projects and more outposts in more provinces? I think we've tried plenty of all that.

'Getting out' is going to require some kind of squirmy negotiation, with this looking like a painful bump in that process.

Based on history and Afghan culture, I think this war was headed for an end based on political accommodation from the minute it started. I see our negotiations as an avenue to get there even as they appear morally poisonous and doomed to hold little weight once we withdraw.

afchic · 05-09-2012, 12:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Magnolia

I'm going to leave the first part alone because I don't think it makes the decision any clearer. There are lots of things that both parties have done in this conflict that I'm not 'okay with.'

When you say 'finish the job right', I'm not sure what you mean. More of what we've been doing, more DA raids and increased troops, more COIN projects and more outposts in more provinces? I think we've tried plenty of all that.

'Getting out' is going to require some kind of squirmy negotiation, with this looking like a painful bump in that process.

Based on history and Afghan culture, I think this war was headed for an end based on political accommodation from the minute it started. I see our negotiations as an avenue to get there even as they appear morally poisonous and doomed to hold little weight once we withdraw.

You can continue to study international affairs all you want. I have a Master's Degree in it. But that degree does me no good without reliable experience to back it up.

I believe when TR stated finishing it up right he means (TR correct me if I misinterpreted) we need to go in with the power of not just DoD, but every other department and clean house. Have you ever studied the Powell theory?

Either we go in with everything we got, and ensure there is a clear winner, much like WWI and WWII, or we go home. If we had done that from the start then things would be very different. Do you believe there would have been any way Europe or Japan for that matter would have turned out the way they did after the war if there hadn't been a clear unadulterated winner telling everyone what to do and how it would be done?

There is another theory out there called "give war a chance" that clearly highlights how not allowing one belligerent to win, and by stepping in with peacekeepers/peace enforcers only draws out the conflict and kills more people because one belligerent wasn't beaten into submission.

So in review, go in hard with all you have, decimate your enemy, or don't even bother.

head · 05-09-2012, 15:43

[QUOTE=The Reaper;447798

We are 4th and 1 right now. Either finish the job right or get out.

TR[/QUOTE]

As no one can define what the "finish", the "job", or "right" is suppose to look like, I'll take the latter option.

At least they're trying to get something out of releasing the detainees... because they would neeever just let them go for no reason, right?