New Delhi, which thinks there is no ‘good Taliban’ or ‘bad Taliban’, is likely to be disappointed by US president Barack Obama’s rethink on strategy in Afghanistan.
The US is sharpening focus on fighting al Qaeda above all other goals, while downgrading emphasis on the Taliban.
White House officials acknowledged that Obama is prepared to accept Taliban involvement in Afghanistan’s political future and will determine how many more soldiers to send there, based on ensuring the war is now tightly focused on squashing al Qaeda.
It is a narrower objective that could require less than the 40,000 new soldiers sought by general Stanley McChrystal, the top US commander in Afghanistan. Obama’s developing strategy on the Taliban will “not tolerate their return to power”, the senior official said. However, the US will fight only to keep the Taliban from giving renewed sanctuary in Afghanistan to al Qaeda, the official said.
The US appears to be bowing to the reality that the Taliban is “too ingrained” in Afghanistan’s culture to be entirely defeated. Although Obama’s decision on troop levels and other elements of a new blueprint on Afghanistan is two weeks away, it appears increasingly that the US is prepared to accept a Taliban role in parts of Afghanistan.
This could mean the US will reach out to moderate Taliban elements, paving the way for its members willing to renounce violence to participate in a central government.
Indian foreign secretary Nirupama Rao visited the Indian embassy on Friday and discussed security with top Afghan officials. A suicide bomb attack outside the embassy a day earlier had killed 17 people.
The Taliban was also connected to the 2008 Indian embassy bombing which killed 54 people. Indian officials had accused the Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) of masterminding the 2008 bombing. The US authorities implicated ISI members in that bombing by disclosing intercepted calls showing Pakistani spies provided direct support for the attack.
Team Obama, especially vice president Joe Biden, believes elements in the Taliban are close to al Qaeda, with its one-point agenda of going after western targets, but probably not the majority.
The US has begun to view the hardy Taliban as a local group more interested in Afghan issues, as opposed to Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda, which plainly targets the US.
“They’re not the same type of group,” White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. “It’s certainly not backed up by any intelligence.”
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