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Obama May Reach Out to Elements of Taliban

By John Johnson, Newser Staff

Posted Mar 7, 2009 12:57 PM CST

(Newser) – President Obama stated flatly today that the US is not winning the war in Afghanistan and said he is considering reaching out to less extreme elements of the Taliban, the New York Times reports. He likened the strategy to the successful American efforts in Iraq of convincing Sunni insurgents to cut ties with more radical groups.

“There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region,” said Obama, whose administration is in the midst of a strategy review. He acknowledged, however, that Afghanistan is its own special case. The situation there "is, if anything, more complex,” he said. “You have a less governed region, a history of fierce independence among tribes ... and so figuring all that out is going to be much more of a challenge.”

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

President Barack Obama makes remarks at the Columbus Police Graduation Exercises in Columbus, Ohio, Friday, March 6, 2009. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

President Obama listens to a question at the White House Forum on Health Reform in the East Room of the White House in Washington, Thursday, March 5, 2009. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Obama delivers remarks at the White House Forum on Health Reform, Thursday, March 5, 2009, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)

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If you talk to General Petraeus, I think he would argue that part of the success in Iraq involved reaching out to people that we would consider to be Islamic fundamentalists.

- President Obama

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COMMENTS

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Showing 3 of 12 comments

Guest

Mar 8, 2009 7:03 AM CDT

Aye, in my book their treatment of girls & women is one of the best reasons to hate them... But consider this: the regime in Iran -- where the majority of med & law school graduates are women -- loathes the Taliban... It is nonetheless fair to dislike the Iranian regime for their repression of women in the area of family law... However, it should tell us that we need to stop painting all Islamic regimes with the same, stupid wide brush, it does not serve us well... Obama's apparent sense of nuance is a good sign that our foreign policy is growing up, getting more sophisticated.

AdaptAndOvercome

Mar 8, 2009 5:25 AM CDT

Great job-Great "THINKING"- something we haven't had in the White House for quite some time.

riffran

Mar 8, 2009 1:59 AM CST

I wish him luck, but I don't trust those "Taliban's" any further than I can throw a sherman tank.....But for some reason....The inhumane, and disrespectfull way they treat their women over there just flat out pisses me off, I don't care what their supposed culture is....it invokes a "get my gun" mentality

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Afghanistan • Taliban • Pakistan • extremists • President Obama

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