Negotiations: a Sign of Weakness

You can console yourself all you like by saying that Western Civilization is more advanced. When you are dealing with a group which understands only the language of force, negotiations are a potential mistake. There are talks about talks between the Taliban and various national and regional governments in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and this is possibly not-good.

There are political realities on the ground which must be taken into account, I grant you. But when you start negotiating you acknowledge the superiority of your enemy in a war. The possibility exists that the Tangoes will take it as a sign of impending victory and start getting uppity. Then Afghanistan and Pakistan start to degenerate again and let's all raise our hands if we think the USA will be willing to send another couple hundred thousands of troops over there and sink another trillion dollars into the graveyard of empires.

So: make that TWO costly wars suddenly winding down for political reasons during an election year, with huge potential to undo everything we've worked to achieve on the ground in the war zones. But hey, there's an election to win and those pacifists and bringemhomenow types just won't pander to themselves!