Name:	Buteye -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 1:53:41 AM (updated 10/25/2017 3:00:46 AM)

Am I the only one who didn't know that Obama approved a "Taliban Embassy" in Daha, Qatar? The office serves as the terrorist groups "embassy". The office was established with the permission of the Afghan government in 2013, reportedly under  pressure from  the Obama administration. The decision to allow the office now home to twenty-something Taliban officials and their families, was met with fury from within the government of then-President Hamid Karzai, members of whom saw it as a massive capitulation to the enemy sworn to destroy their state. Afghan intelligence official Sunraise Kabuli was highly critical of the office's existence, saying that "The Taliban considered the Qatar office political "recognition" for them and they erected the Islamic Emirate flag there. The office was supposed to be about ending "violence", but years after opening, it is used for fundraising and running "private businesses".                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            The Taliban had portrayed the office as an "embassy" for an alternate Afghan state, flying their black and white flag and referring to it as the "Political Office of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan" until U.S. and Qatar pressure fortced a change. The Taliban has never ceased trying to create the same impression of legitimacy and sent five "delegates" from the Qatar office to meet with Chinese government officials in Beijing this year. The office has found itself in the sights of President Trump and the continued existence of the office is a topic of negotiation as Secretary of State Tillerson and U.S. Deoartment of State officials make their tour of the region. The ultimate decision on the continued presence of the Taliban, however, lies with the Qatari governement who, despite close ties with the American military, have a long history of providing a safe harbor for political Islamic groups.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Remember when President Obama described the Islamic terrorist groups as the JV. Just another one of his many missteps during his eight years. No wonder so much of President Trump's few months in office have been trying to offset eight years of Obama "rule". It also looks like there is much more to come relative to events now finally being investigated during the tenure of Obama, Holder, Hillary, Comey, Podesta, Lynch, Rosenstein, and others.

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 9:12:53 AM

The US should not be the worlds police department and damn sure should not be pressuring any country to build anything let alone a Taliban embassy.  If they want to be our Allies, we should support them - if not pull our men and women out and let them eat themselves.

Name:	Old Diver -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 11:03:49 AM

Car bomb anyone?

Name:	Buteye -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 12:34:18 PM

Amen!!!

Name:	phil -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 1:23:29 PM

car is not big enough -- MOAB.

Name:	Talullahhound -	Reply
Subject:	Taliban Embassy
Date:	10/25/2017 5:48:01 PM

it doesn't surpise me it happened on Obama's watch, but it is not exactly unheard of that we publicly support one govenrment, while helping out an alternative government.  Karzi was no friend to the United States, and virtually unhead of outside of the capital city.  That is the problem in Afghanistan - they have never had a centralized government, and see no reason to change.  And the Taliban was perceived to do a lot of good in Afghanistan.  I think the U.S was thinking that if they just gave them Afghanistan, they would stay contained.  

Having sat in some meetings years ago and heard some of the more outrageous things that are discussed, nothing really surprises me anymore.  The Diplomatic community has no grasp on reality.  They can't organize, they can't plan, and when they try to, they make a real mash of things.  And remember who was runnign the State Department.  My feeling is that Obama was never a foreign relations president - he was far more interested in his domestic agenda.  Which is why you find out so much ridiculous things were done.