Apparently the US and Afghan governments have been holding super secret talks (though if it is appearing on this blog I doubt it is all that secret) with various factions of the Taliban in order to bring them into the government fold. It also appears that the death of Osama bin Laden does not complicate those talks, if anything it makes them easier. According to Ahmed Rashid who spoke on NPR's Fresh Air the death of OBL may negate the personal debt that Taliban leader Mohammed Omar has to Al Qaeda (in particular OBL).
Setting aside the fact that the Taliban peacefully integrating back into Afghan society would be nothing short of amazing, let us contemplate what this would do to US domestic politics. I'm no expert (though I do have a degree in Political Science) but would the Afghan and Iraq* wars ending on Mr. Obama's watch not castrate the national security issue in respect to GOP politics? Not to mention it might give Mr. Obama enough political capital to cut the defense budget significantly.
The point of this brief post really is that if you are thinking of donating to Barack Obama's reelection campaign you may be better off investing in a high end disputes lawyer and buying him a ticket to Kabul.
*George W Bush deserves credit for implementing "The Surge" as well as overseeing "The Awakening" movement among Sunni's in Iraq. Without those policies we may well have seen a much less stable Iraq at this time.
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