Anyone familiar with Socrates knows his favorite question was why. Those who regularly converse and argue with others, especially about political topics, knows a strategically placed “why” can halt your opponent in his tracks. This simple, yet crucial question is asked far too rarely by both individuals inside and outside the government. Arab Media Shack, a favorite blog of mine, has a fantastic piece which I feel compelled to link to asking: Why is the Taliban the Enemy?

Grandmasta doesn’t claim to have deep knowledge about Afghanistan, but it seems to him that the current US approach is destined for failure. Over the past year violence has gotten worse and the US continues to lose soldiers and waste money there. But here’s Grandmasta’s question: Why is it important that we destroy the Taliban? Why is the Taliban being treated as an ineitable enemy that has to be eliminated in order for security to be achieved?

Afghanistan becomes a security threat to the US and its allies when it serves as a sanctuary for Al-Qaeda types to use as a base to plan and launch attacks against the US. For what other reason is Afghanistan important to the US? The situation that existed in Afghanistan before 9/11 was clearly a security threat to the US as Al-Qaeda could do whatever they wanted, and as we well know, they did just that. But why is the Taliban being lumped together with Al-Qaeda as an implaccable enemy that must be destroyed?

Read the rest here and be sure to leave your thoughts either there or here. Good thinking by Grandmasta, and the kind of basic questioning we don’t see often enough in the blogosphere.

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