Loose Cannon

Canada's Foreign Affairs Minister thinks there's much to be gained by--wait for it--talking with the Taliban ("If they should ask, "Do you like the caliphate?/Say for the helluvit, "It's grand!" ). From the Toronto Star:

OTTAWA—The Taliban has an important role to play in mapping out the future of Afghanistan, Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon said Tuesday.

The Conservative government has been reluctant to include the Taliban leaders in potential talks but the growing lack of security in the war-torn countries has caused a few countries to rethink their positions.

“If you look at any conflict that has taken place and has been resolved in a positive manner . . . there has always been a consultation and reintegration process, so it is extremely important that that indeed be part of the ongoing quest toward transition,” Cannon told reporters in a teleconference from Dubai after attending an international meeting of military and political leaders in Kabul.

Earlier in Kabul Cannon said “we encourage a reconciliation process that is inclusive of all Afghans, no matter their ethnicity, tribe or gender” but later said “it is extremely important that the Taliban and the insurgency put down their arms and that they abide by the constitution of Afghanistan as well as the international agreements that Afghanistan has entered (into) over the last couple of years.”...

"Inclusiveness," "diversity," "reconciliation": yeah, that infidel candy floss should make a lot of headway with totalitarian supremacists waging jihad for the glory of Allah and the global application of Islam's rules.

Update: Yoo hoo, Larry. Here are some words of advice from a guy who, unlike you, gets it:

There is no winning of Afghan hearts and minds. They are Muslims and we are Infidels. A handful of people may wish to cooperate with us, may sense that we wish them well, and are far more to be trusted than the sinister Pakistanis, but these people cannot possibly influence the mass of primitive Muslims who will always see us as what, in fact, we are - Infidels. That puts a limit, a very low limit, on any collaboration beyond temporary overlaps of self-interest. Money will not do it.