Obama to Trade Terrorist for Taliban Talk?

Releasing terrorist with known Al-Qaeda connections? What could possibly go wrong?

In yet another bizarre chapter of President Obama's pathetic foreign policy, Reuters is reporting that the administration is weighing the release of an "unspecified number" of Taliban detainees at Guantanamo (aka terrorists) in exchange for prmises that the Taliban will denounce international terrorism.

Reuters has learned, the United States is considering the transfer of an unspecified number of Taliban prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay military prison into Afghan government custody.

It has asked representatives of the Taliban to match that confidence-building measure with some of their own. Those could include a denunciation of international terrorism and a public willingness to enter formal political talks

Guantanamo detainees have been released to foreign governments - and sometimes set free by them - before. But the transfer as part of a diplomatic negotiation appears unprecedented.

In other words, we will release known terrorists caught on the battlefield to the corrupt Afghan government if the Taliban simply promises to decry terrorism, in the hopes they will come to peace talks. The detainees sought for release may include high-level Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo in peace talks even though there is no evidence that they are reconcilable.

"The challenges are enormous," a second senior U.S. official acknowledged. "But if you're where we are ... you can't not try. You have to find out what's out there."

Those are not exactly the most confidence-inspiring words to come from a senior U.S. official. We'll just release some terrorists and see what happens. WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG??

But, America, Reuters assures us that we can feel safe at night (and on airplanes) because there are slightly fewer that 20 Afghan citizens at Guantanamo... Fewer than 20 terrorists; where have I heard that number before?

Ten years after the repressive Taliban government was toppled, a hoped-for political resolution has become central to U.S. strategy to end a war that has killed nearly 3,000 foreign troops and cost the Pentagon alone $330 billion.

How about this, Obama: Hey, Taliban, we will stop killing you if you stop blowing up innocent people. If the Taliban are suffering declining militant attacks and a thinning of the Taliban's mid-level leadership, the US should be in a position of power and should dictate terms and not bow to long-standing demands of the waning enemy.

After all, the Taliban apparently no longer wants to be seen as a bad bunch of guys:

U.S. officials say the Taliban no longer wants to be the global pariah it was in the 1990s

Call me picky, but a militant group who -- according to Amnesty International -- position themselves in residential areas, target civilians trying to leave their homes, use civilians as human shields, launch attacks against resident government officials, torture detainees, and have destroyed more than 170 schools including more than 100 girls' schools are a bit more than a global pariah. (Apparently, they are a reliable negotiation partner, eh Barack?)

But, we'll just take them at their word, because renouncing violence, breaking with al Qaeda, and respecting the Afghan constitution - are not preconditions to starting talks. Why would the "repressive" Taliban lie?

At least one purported insurgent representative has turned out to be a fraud... (Afghan President Hamid Karzai) counseled caution in making sure that Taliban interlocutors are authentic -- and authentically seeking peace. The killing (of former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani*), he said, "brought us in a shock to the recognition that we were actually talking to nobody..."

"There's a very real likelihood that these guys aren't serious ... " the third senior U.S. official said.

Yet as it moves ahead the peace initiative is fraught with challenge, Reuters explains. Gee, do ya think so? But, hey, you can't not try, right?

*Earlier this year, Burhanuddin Rabbani, who led the Afghan High Peace Council, was assassinated by a suicide bomber claiming to represent Mullah Omar's Quetta Shura Taliban.