Negotiate with the Taliban? Yawn.

Helene Cooper has a good story today unpacking the issue of whether the United States should negotiate with elements of the Taliban. But I wouldn’t worry about this point if I were U.S. President Barack Obama:  And getting to the absence of war may require making the American public comfortable with the idea that the ...

Helene Cooper has a good story today unpacking the issue of whether the United States should negotiate with elements of the Taliban. But I wouldn't worry about this point if I were U.S. President Barack Obama: 

Helene Cooper has a good story today unpacking the issue of whether the United States should negotiate with elements of the Taliban. But I wouldn’t worry about this point if I were U.S. President Barack Obama: 

And getting to the absence of war may require making the American public comfortable with the idea that the Taliban might not necessarily equal Al Qaeda.

For one thing, there’s little evidencce the U.S. public has ever paid much attention to Afghanistan and I don’t think that even now, with news organizations ramping up their coverage of the war there, that the vast majority of ordinary folks will care how CENTCOM chief Gen. David Petraeus et al go about their business — if they even know what is going on at all.

Americans just want the U.S. war effort there to succeed. Period. The "how" is a very Washington debate, I’d wager.

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