What’s the alternative? The West folds up it’s tents and goes home leaving everything to go back to the way it was 10 years ago? They may be a bunch of religious lunatics hell bent on oppression but at least if talking to them can get some relief for the people of Afghanistan when the West pulls out isn’t it worth talking to them?

Compare the total cost in money and lives for 10 years of war and how much it costs to sit around a table and see which one of them is the better option.

I understand the need to communicate and compromise, they do not, they are convinced anything outside their twisted world view is evil and God has commanded them to destroy it., which includes people like you and me, think about that Brian.

The only thing we should do is leave them alone. No amount of intervention will change this

Lets get one thing straight, the west ain’t there because the Taliban are barbaric, they’re there to fleece the country dry. Opium from Afghanistan accounted for 9% of world production in 2000, its now at 93% and the trillions of dollars of minerals plus its oil pipeline central for Asia. Radical Islam is directley releated to these countries getting f**ked over for centuries by various colonial powers.

I suppose you missed the planes that hit the towers, the Pentagon and Flight 97? And that Al Quaeda had based themselves in Afghanistan and were protected by the Taliban? And what natural resources? Afghanistan doesn’t have any.
When GW Bush was elected he had no idea where Afghanistan was! He barely knew it existed at all apart from someplace the Russians invaded in the 80′s. So why would he plan a war in a medieval back water like Afghanistan?
When Al Quaeda attacked American assets previously to 9/11 the Americans basicly ignored them. But no leader of any country could or would stand for a direct attack.
So your conclusion the America and NATO allies invaded for financial benefit is nothing short of ludicrous.

USA were in negotiations with the Talliban to lay pipelines through Afganistan, in order to avoid Iran, untill talks broke down shortly before the invasion.
Michel Chossudovsky, October 6, 2012
* * *
The 2001 bombing and invasion of Afghanistan has been presented to World public opinion as a “Just War”, a war directed against the Taliban and Al Qaeda, a war to eliminate “Islamic terrorism” and instate Western style democracy.
The economic dimensions of the “Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT) are rarely mentioned. The post 9/11 “counter-terrorism campaign” has served to obfuscate the real objectives of the US-NATO war.
The war on Afghanistan is part of a profit driven agenda: a war of economic conquest and plunder, ”a resource war”.
While Afghanistan is acknowledged as a strategic hub in Central Asia, bordering on the former Soviet Union, China and Iran, at the crossroads of pipeline routes and major oil and gas reserves, its huge mineral wealth as well as its untapped natural gas reserves have remained, until June 2010, totally unknown to the American public.
According to a joint report by the Pentagon, the US Geological Survey (USGS) and USAID, Afghanistan is now said to possess “previously unknown” and untapped mineral reserves, estimated authoritatively to be of the order of one trillion dollars (New York Times, U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan – NYTimes.com, June 14, 2010, See also BBC, 14 June 2010).
“The previously unknown deposits — including huge veins of iron, copper, cobalt, gold and critical industrial metals like lithium — are so big and include so many minerals that are essential to modern industry that Afghanistan could eventually be transformed into one of the most important mining centers in the world, the United States officials believe.

Note
1. The Golden Crescent trade in opiates constitutes, at present, the centerpiece of Afghanistan’s export economy. The heroin trade, instated at the outset of the Soviet-Afghan war in 1979 and protected by the CIA, generates cash earnings in Western markets in excess of $200 billion dollars a year. Since the 2001 invasion, narcotics production in Afghanistan has increased more than 35 times. In 2009, opium production stood at 6900 tons, compared to less than 200 tons in 2001. In this regard, the multibillion dollar earnings resulting from the Afghan opium production largely occur outside Afghanistan. According to United Nations data, the revenues of the drug trade accruing to the local economy are of the order of 2-3 billion annually. In contrast with the Worldwide sales of heroin resulting from the trade in Afghan opiates, in excess of $200 billion. (See Michel Chossudovsky, America’s War on Terrorism”, Global Research, Montreal, 2005)
Note : These drugs are killing our children, for American profit

There is no we in it Dave!!

The “we” i refer to is the world in general … not just ireland as you seem to be taking it up as ….

Or victory for one side.

That’s mad. I thought the USA were the terrorists, invading other countries and killing that country’s president. My mistake

B Lowe, George bush is living in Texas after stepping down as president after serving two terms. Barack Obama is now president after being elected. Have you not heard? It’s how a democracy works. Something that you are against as you support dictatorships throughout the world.

B Lowe, and today you are showing support to the Taliban by your own words.

Re Declan.
A person who offers support to the Taliban would have to be a hard line Islamists who believes Sharia law should constitute all aspects of societal life.
I reject such an approach to life. I believe in inclusion for all. I might not agree with your viewpoint but this is a healthy thing. I would die for the right to protect freedom of Speech.
There was an inclusive government in Afghanistan which promoted women’s rights, inclusion into society and equality a few decades back in Afghanistan
But guess what Declan? The US supported efforts to overthrow this government which resulted in the Taliban coming to power.

B Lowe, are you serious?! Did you forget about the soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1980? When did the US invade Afghanistan prior to 2001 and topple a government there?

And b Lowe, it’s a joke to hear you say that you would die to protect freedom of speech when you support Chavez who took control of radio and tv stations in Venezuela to broadcast his own message. He silenced the opposition.
People like you are silent in the face of dictatorships around the world.

That wouldn’t be like the US, would it?

I’m not denying its true or false, just that he is not to be trusted for a split second.