Post-Gazette Editorial – 10/6/06

This page was last updated on October 7, 2006.

Frist the feckless / The GOP leader wants to work with the Taliban?; Editorial; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette; October 6, 2006.

This is a bogus editorial. Even if his mouth didn’t say what he was thinking, the PG knows full well Sen. Frist doesn’t believe the Taliban should be brought into the Afghan government.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist was in Afghanistan briefly this week and he made a statement that ought to raise both eyebrows and concerns. According to an Associated Press reporter, he said the war against Taliban guerrillas can never be won militarily and called for efforts to bring the Islamic militia and its supporters into the Afghan government.

“This bleak outlook is extraordinary, not just for its candor but because of who said it. Sen. Frist is, after all, one of the leaders of a Republican Party that has scorned Democrats for threatening to ‘cut and run’ in the dubious war being prosecuted in Iraq, which most Americans have come to realize is a costly diversion in the war on terror.

“Yet Afghanistan is the place that, under the Taliban, was the central lair of the Taliban octopus. It was where Osama bin Laden lived -- perhaps still lives. It was ground zero for terror activity before there was a Ground Zero. Unlike Iraq, just about everybody agreed that Taliban-controlled Afghanistan had to be invaded. Even the French sent forces there.

“The United States has some 20,000 troops in Afghanistan assisting NATO forces. With the Taliban resurgent, the task of the coalition has lately become harder. But is the defeat of the Taliban unrealistic, as Dr. Frist suggested? Does a political accommodation have to be made with this bunch of fanatics who in power kept women as chattel and used a sports stadium for executions and mutilations?

“This was a political embarrassment and, not surprisingly, Amy Call, the senator’s communications director, issued a clarification. The senator was talking about the native tribes often targeted by the Taliban for recruitment, she said in a prepared statement; they are the ones who should have a voice in the Afghan government. ‘Sen. Frist does not believe Taliban fighters -- often foreign fighters who come to Afghanistan to further conflict -- should be brought into the reconciliation process,’ the statement said.”

[RWC] The editorial may call it a “clarification,” but I believe it’s more accurately described as a correction of a report. Here is the central excerpt from the Frist press release.

“While touring Afghanistan, Senator Frist made the observation that Afghan tribesman should be brought into the government or risk losing them to the Taliban. Giving the native tribes often targeted by Taliban recruitment a voice in the government will promote peace and prosperity in the region. Senator Frist does not believe Taliban fighters – often foreign fighters who come to Afghanistan to further conflict – should be brought into the reconciliation process.”

“It is possible, of course, that the senator merely misspoke, but the interview with the reporter was taped and The Associated Press stands by its report. One of the ironies is that Dr. Frist, as quoted by the AP, may be right about the military challenge. As he said: ‘It sounds to me ... that the Taliban is everywhere.’”

[RWC] I’d really like to read a full, authenticated transcript of the interview. Standalone quotes like, “It sounds to me … that the Taliban is everywhere,” make me suspicious we’re not getting Sen. Frist’s comments in context, especially given the fact Sen. Frist hasn’t previously made comments even remotely similar.

“But how did we come to such a desperate situation? Dr. Frist and his Republican colleagues can’t connect the dots, but we can. While obsessed by Iraq, the United States has let Afghanistan slide back into hell.”

[RWC] “Desperate situation?” “Great newspaper” that it is, the PG neglected two facts about the so-called Taliban “resurgence.”

First, the recent activity has been in areas the government hasn’t expanded into yet. In other words, the Taliban are trying to get a foothold in areas where the government isn’t. Training a country’s military and police forces from scratch takes time. Where there is a credible Afghan military and police presence, the Taliban don’t exist.

Second, the recent Taliban activity has been an unqualified failure. They’re being killed by the hundreds. During a TV interview last week with one of the local U.S. commanders, he said Afghan, NATO, and U.S. forces have been making themselves visible and daring the Taliban to come out and fight.