Afghanistan, where 80% of Taliban fighters aren’t really hardcore, according to the British Armed Forces Minister.
Without a pollster in sight, the implication is that these “foot soldiers” can be bought off.
It’s called reintegration, and it works just fine so long as the Taliban decides it’s losing the war or can’t make the payroll.
On current evidence, it’s also utter nonsense.
This isn’t the first time we’ve tried to bribe our way out of a losing war.
We put the Sunnis on the payroll for a while during the “surge” in Iraq.
They went along for a year, but as soon as the checks stopped coming, the bombs started falling again.
Gorilla thinks: “Maybe we could pay the Taliban to pass health care reform!”
Tags: Afghanistan