Afghanistan’s Taliban Wish Al Qaeda Would Go Away

[Nuclear Unicorn]

Is this something?

I hope so.

Agha jan Motasim knows firsthand the hazards of crossing al Qaeda. A year ago the Taliban regime’s former treasury minister was caught in a hail of bullets and left for dead on a street in Karachi. Somehow Motasim survived the shooting—and he prudently didn’t publicly accuse the global terrorist group of nearly killing him, although many of his supporters had no doubt who had ordered it. After all, what had Motasim expected when he urged his fellow Afghan insurgents to disown al Qaeda and seek a political solution in Afghanistan? But Motasim stuck to his beliefs: in an exclusive telephone interview earlier this year, he told The Daily Beast that he would not be silenced and that many senior Taliban commanders shared his desire for an end to the bloodshed.

No sooner were Motasim’s words published than he received a reply. Intermediaries relayed a message from a senior al Qaeda operative in Afghanistan, warning him to stop talking about peace and to quit trying to disrupt the longstanding ties between the Taliban and al Qaeda. Motasim has not given up urging the Afghan insurgents to reopen their talks with the Americans. But the Taliban can’t ignore al Qaeda’s long and deadly reach. “Al Qaeda is a big threat to any kind of peaceful solution and to anyone who would be part of a deal,” says a former senior Taliban minister. “Al Qaeda still has easy access to senior Taliban leaders and is still strong enough to convince them—by threat or otherwise—that they should not talk to the infidel enemy and not abandon al Qaeda,” Motasim tells Newsweek.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/08/12/afghanistan-s-taliban-wish-al-qaeda-would-go-away.html

How weird it would be if the US sided with the Taliban to break al Qaeda. Of course the Taliban can be pretty evil in their own right so I'm not sure what the long-term value of leaving them to their own devises would be the responsible thing to do for the US or Afghan society.

[SoCalDem]

1. There's only room for one bully on the block..n/t

[msongs]

2. but our president and welfare military say they've got al queda on the run. oh well nt