Foxymorons

Military Intelligence is often cited as the default example of an oxymoron. Defence Minister Joel Fitzgibbon has bettered this example when discussing Brigadier Mark Carleton-Smith’s recent pessimistic statements that the war in Afghanistan is unwinnable. According to The Australian, “Mr Fitzgibbon agreed the door should be open for political negotiations with Taliban moderates”. What differentiates a Taliban moderate from an extremist? Are they prepared to allow girls to go to school, but not allow them to learn? Will they fill soccer stadiums with crowds of jubilant Jihadists, line up all of the homosexuals, apostates, adulterers and women who have allowed a man other than their father or brother to see their face, and cut their heads of just a little bit?

A Taliban Moderate















Why, after nearly seven years of war in Afghanistan, when the Taliban are hiding in caves in the mountains, fleeing into Pakistan to evade coalition arse-whoopin’, and are splintered and disorganised, would the Australian Defence Minister be talking about a negotiated peace? The reason we went into Afghanistan in the first place was to oust a regime that had harboured Bin Liner and his cronies and provided them with a safe haven to train for and plan the September 11 attacks on the US. Are these the same “moderates” that the Defence Minister now thinks should be invited to the negotiation table to discuss their future role in the governance of Afghanistan?


The military will not provide a comprehensive victory in Afghanistan. There will be no triumphant parade through Kabul announcing the cessation of hostilities. Any workable peace for that troubled country must involve a political element. The Afghan people deserve a functioning political system that will provide the stability they need to begin the rebuilding process. There is no room in that political process for medieval thugs. To do so would only give them access again to political power, and Afghanistan would suffer for it.