Barack 'Dolittle' Gives the Go-Ahead for Taliban 'Headquarters' in Qatar

It's a prelude to having an amiable discussion with the devout ones, reports The Australian:

THE US has given its blessing for the Taliban to be brought in from the cold with a critical step towards reconciliation as the world paused to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Washington has endorsed plans for the Islamist network to open political headquarters in the gulf state of Qatar by the end of the year. The move has been devised so the West can begin formal peace talks with the Taliban.

As a potent reminder of the potential value of a truce with the Taliban, attacks by the Islamist network in Afghanistan yesterday left two dead and 101 wounded in a truck bomb, marking one of the bloodiest days for American forces since the US invasion 10 years ago.

The office of the self-styled Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan would be the first internationally recognised representation for the Taliban since its fall in 2001.

The White House declined to comment on the development last night as Mr Obama addressed the nation on the anniversary of the al-Qa'ida attacks. In the decade since, there has been a shift in Washington's attitudes towards the Taliban and a growing official distinction between the Pashtun nationalists and their former allies in al-Qa'ida.

 Western diplomats said it was hoped the opening of the Taliban office would help to advance talks intended to reconcile insurgents with the Afghan government and bring an end to the decade-long US-led war...

All together now:

If we could talk to the Taliban,
Just imagine it,
Chatting with jihadis in Pashto.
Imagine intellectual wrangles,
Discussing all the angles,
Who knows just how far it all could go.

If we could talk to the Taliban,
To the "nationalists,"
They're so diff'rent from Osama's lads.
We all could read stuff from the Koran,
Although to us it's foreign,
We know it's not one of those passing fads.

We could converse with clerics who despise us.
And they would curse our presence in their land.
If they should ask, "Do you like the Caliphate?"
Say for the helluvit, "It's grand!"

If we could talk to the Taliban,
Make it up with them,
Afghanistan would be a better place.
So now we'll talk to the Taliban,
Won't balk to the Taliban,
Bow and scrape and flock to the Taliban
And claim it's no disgrace.