With the Republican primary taking up all the oxygen, other issues of importance have been flying under the radar. One such issue is our peace initiative in Afghanistan.
The Obama administration has decided to engage Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef as a conduit to the Taliban in order to peacefully resolve the conflict. Who is Mullah Zaeef? To the Obama administration he is the face of peace. However, the larger question is what lies beneath this thin veneer?
As some may know, Mullah Zaeef was the Taliban’s Ambassador to Pakistan in the days before 9/11. After 9/11, Pakistan detained him and turned him over to US authorities where he was transferred to Guantanamo and spent more than half a decade as a guest in Club Gitmo. Upon his release, he has lived in Kandahar as a guest of the Karzai administration and with his ties to the Taliban, the Obama administration believes he is perfectly suited to help negotiate a peaceful end to the Afghan War.
Is Abdul Salam Zaeef a man of peace or is something else in the air? A little background information on him is enlightening. Mr. Zaeef was more than just a mouthpiece for the Taliban; he is actually one of their founding members and a devotee of Mullah Omar. As we know, Mullah Omar is one of the top capture (or kill) targets for the United States in the War on Terrorism. So, to call him a conduit to the Taliban is inaccurate as Abdul Salam Zaeef is the Taliban.
Prior to forming the Taliban, Mullah Zaeef had a rag to riches life. He was born in poverty losing both his parents at a young age and lived with relatives moving from town to town, until he joined the Mujahedeen at the age of fifteen to fight the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. In the rough and tumble political world that followed Soviet withdrawal, Mr. Zaeef hitched his star to Mullah Omar and catapulted to the top of the Afghan world. Commentators have called his life story the Afghan version of America’s Horatio Alger.
Mullah Zaeef’s time in Guantanamo Bay shows his true colors. As a leader in the Taliban, he carried his celebrity status into Gitmo and organized the inmates’ resistance to the US military. Inmate protests such as throwing human feces and urine at their guards were held under the ruse that group prayer should be allowed. When authorities relented and group prayers were granted, they were quickly turned into resistance sessions. The inmates spoke a multitude of languages and this allowed them to discuss their plans undetected as the guards could not discern what was prayer and what was not. The “praying” let fellow prisoners know that they were not alone and to remain defiant to their American captors. Mullah Zaeef’s ability to organize and resist the Americans was like a scene out of the movie Stalag 17.
Looking at Mullah Zaeef’s life, he is nothing more than a religious revolutionary who believes Muslims are better than the rest of us. He will use whatever means necessary to advance the Taliban’s mission, including engaging in “peace” talks. An expose on him by the New Yorker magazine coined the phrase “War by Other Means” in discussing his life. His involvement in peace talks falls under this concept.
Is Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef the face of peace? His life story suggests otherwise.
For those that have time, read Mr. Zaeef’s autobiography “My Life with the Taliban”, Columbia Press, 2010. It gives great insight into the minds and motivations of the Taliban.
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Will our surrender take place in Kabul or here in Washington?
“With the Republican primary taking up all the oxygen, other issues of importance have been flying under the radar”
More important than why this despicable man has been embraced by the White House is why we rarely see any reporting about this and so many other acts of treachery by the pretender-in-chief in any form other than blogs.
The MSM becomes more treasonous with each passing day.
I fear for our great nation.
Christians are strictly charged by Christ: “Deny me on earth and I will deny you in Heaven.” Mohammedans are given exactly the opposite instruction. They are encouraged to deny their faith when it furthers the faith. Thus lies to infidel pigs are an honorable thing to do. This man, and those of his ilk, will say anything to further their cause. (I thought this post was about Afghanistan. Why am I once again discussing Establishment Republicans, Mitt Romney and progressive-socialist-liberal Democrats? Very confusing!)
President 0bama’s past behavior doesn’t indicate that he puts this country’s best interests first. At some point in the future Barack Husein 0bama will throw up his hands and say “We were deceived! How could we have known?”
“The MSM” and their accomplices “become(s) more treasonous with each passing day.
I fear for our great nation.”
Neville Chamberlain ring a bell? The piece of paper he was waving was used to wipe his ass. That was all that it was good for.
This is a bad joke, and BEYOND a poor choice in the matter of foreign policy. You’re going to try to NEGOTIATE with someone who you DETAINED at a military prison (in his mind WRONGLY, I’m sure) for over half a decade?
No. I’ve been in high-pressure negotiations (it’s actually my BUSINESS to do so). I’ve seen far, far smaller disputes destroy the credibility of negotiations. Zaeef will do whatever he has to do to damage the US in the negotiations.
Prof. Jacobson mentioned those businessmen who can’t leave that last nickel because they want to humiliate the person on the other side of the table. That is exactly what is going to happen here, because Obama CAN’T go toe-to-toe with the Taliban (his base won’t let him, and without his base he knows he’s done as President).
Expect in these “negotiations” for the Taliban to come out with some iron clad guarantee of “non-interference” if they take over the Pakistani government.
So often governments try to put lip stick on their policy pigs or other such acts and instead write it on our foreheads; that’s in place of our so-called Social Security numbers.
Once Oceania’s leader brings peace to Afghanistan, he can bring peace to ourselves.
Meanwhile, we all must be most careful not to endanger the peace our leader brings to us.
Of course, if our dear leader is replaced, the new one carry on those self same policies, and deeds, or not? Maybe that depends on who that new leader is!
More and more, Cousin Ben was correct about what form of government we created way back then.
You still here, Louis?
“Looking at Mullah Zaeef’s life, he is nothing more than a religious revolutionary who believes Muslims are better than the rest of us.” You did some work to do the piece but you just don’t get it, do you? This guy is NOT a “religious revolutionary”. He is a Muslim, and Muslims believe that Islam will dominate the world and that they are better than us because they are Muslim. This is not revolutionary but intrinsic to Islam. Every Muslim believes this. This is why they call us “infidel” and see nothing wrong in slaughtering us. So, quit the politically correct pablum!
As for Obama, I’m not surprised. I fully expect him to close Guantanamo and bring all the terrorists to live in the USA as his last act of presidential pardon. It would be no surprise if he’s dribbling them in already. Whatever it takes to destroy us.
Hehe Juba.
“in the rough & tumble political world that followed the Soviet withdrawal”.
Afghanistan had 3 chapters 89-91 brutal all out civil war / 91-96 Warlord Terror / 96-2001 Taliban Islamic totalitarianism.
FFS this is not Harrisburg.
However I grant you there are some similarities. Young boys were not safe in either place.
At least in Harrisburg they did not have to sing & dance.