During his latest series of speeches defending his so-called "war on terror", President George W. Bush admitted facing difficulties in Afghanistan, particularly in the training of police. However he didn't miss the chance to promise his nation ultimate victory over Taliban forces there and against 'terrorists' everywhere.
Expressing disappointment over progress in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is believed to have regrouped, especially in the south, and where violence is rising, Bush said;
"The training of the Afghan police has not gone as smoothly as the army", citing "corruption and substandard leadership."
Some analysts explained remarks Bush made last month as admitting failure in Afghanistan, while others interpreted them as a pretext for "bringing Taliban back into the power equation".
The question now is "is the Bush administration considering bringing the ousted Taliban regime back into power equation in Afghanistan?" The debate became heated among the U.S. political community whether Washington will bring back to power the movement it toppled five years ago when it invaded Afghanistan following September 11 attacks on the United States, Times of India wrote on its website.
What sparked such debate was an agreement stuck last month between Pakistan and the Taliban movement in the Waziristan province; a deal that won full support from the American President.
Although the deal was criticised by many politicians as a sell-out to ‘extremists' at the expense of U.S. and NATO forces deployed in Afghanistan, President Bushh somehow managed to persuade the Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who expressed total rejection and opposition to the deal, to "wait and see" how the Pakistani government deal works.
Another thing that aroused fear among politicians over reviving Taliban regime in Afghanistan is an advice by that Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who said that the Bush administration should consider bringing Taliban back into the power equation in Kabul.
Arguing that Taliban fighters were "too numerous and too popular" to be defeated, Frist, who was in Afghanistan last weekend, told reporters "you need to bring them (Taliban) into a more transparent type of government... And if that's accomplished, we'll be successful."
"Winning hearts and minds"
"Approaching counterinsurgency by winning hearts and minds will ultimately be the answer. Military versus insurgency one-to-one doesn't sound like it can be won. It sounds to me... that the Taliban is everywhere," he was quoted as saying.
Critics accused Frist of waving the white flag before the organisation who took part in the terror attacks on the United States in 2001.
"Senator Frist now suggests that the best way forward in Afghanistan is to coddle the Taliban by welcoming Taliban members into a coalition government, as if 9/11 had never happened," Democrat leader Nancy Pelosi said in a statement.
Other analysts offered a completely different explanation. Some believe that Pakistan has never really forsaken the Taliban even after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan which toppled the organisation from power, with the hope of returning its leaders into power in Kabul and retain its strategic foothold once U.S., faced with military setbacks, ends the occupation of Afghanistan.
"Either you are with us or against us"
Recently, commanders from five NATO countries appealed to their governments to get tough with Pakistan, accusing it of aiding Taliban.
"It is time for an 'either you are with us or against us' delivered bluntly to Musharraf at the highest political level," said one NATO commander. "Our boys in southern Afghanistan are hurting because of what is coming out of Quetta," he added.
Commanders from Britain, the U.S., Denmark, Canada and Holland expressed deep frustration over the fact that even after Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf met with the U.S. President and Britain's Prime Minister last week, Western leaders are still refusing to call Mr Musharraf's bluff.
Commanders are concerned over the protection Pakistan is believed to be providing the Taliban with, arguing it's undermining their operation in Afghanistan, where 31,000 NATO troops are now stationed.
"Return of the Taliban"
Evidence of Pakistan's role in protecting Taliban was recently uncovered in a PBS documentary titled "Return of the Taliban" and aired Tuesday night.
The documentary, which examines why the United States appears to be losing ground against remnants of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and Al Qaeda fighters, showed the Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as doing nothing to stamp out Taliban forces in his country or stopping them from returning to Afghanistan to wage war, in violation of his commitment to Washington.
But Musharraf bristled at questions about why Pakistan's commitment, shouting, "If Pakistan isn't doing more, who the hell is doing more?"
The documentary comes on the heels of Mr. Musharraf's latest visit to Washington, a tour to promote his controversial autobiography.
The "Frontline" documentary is a stark reminder of the U.S. failure in Afghanistan, part of the American President's "war on terror" launched in the wake of 9/11 attacks with the aim of ridding the world of terrorists, a claim Bush used and still uses to justify his administration's unwise and devastating policies pursued since the attacks shook America five years ago.
Source: Agencies and AlJazeera
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