Surprise. I'm back

I have been neglecting this blog lately. No real excuse except laziness and I guess lack of desire. I never even got around to doing that post on Syria. Sorry.

I came back because I was inspired to write by some of the recent events in Afghanistan. To be precise, by the killing of Rabbani. Now the fact that the Taliban/Haqqani forces killed Rabbani is no great surprise. He is a long time old enemy of the Taliban. I find it interesting though that they killed him in his role as negotiator with the Taliban for their peaceful integration into the Afghan political system.
There have been a lot of talking heads, pundits and "experts" saying that the only path to peace involves bringing the Taliban into the system.
The problem with this of course is that the Taliban leadership really has no interest. They do not want to be part of the political system in Afghanistan. They intend to be the political system in Afghanistan. There will be no sharing of power, no coalition government. The Taliban is quite convinced that the US is going bug out and that they will then take over. And sadly, it is quite possible. When I came home from Afghanistan I was convinced that the Taliban would never regain power because the Afghan people would not put up with it. Sadly, it looks like many of the Afghan people will just rollover and let them come back. (not all of course, it appears that the Ethnic minorities are busily rearming and preparing for a most unpleasant future.)
Victory goes to the last guy standing in the fight.