Why US Vice President Joe Biden Said that Taliban are not the Enemies of America – Complete Overview

Joe Biden. A shift in the policy?

In an interview with Newsweek the US Vice President Joe Biden said that the Taliban are not the enemies of America and President Obama has never termed the Taliban as our enemies. Justifying the attack on Afghanistan by US-led coalition forces in 2001, Joe Biden said that it happened only because the Taliban were sheltering Al-Qaeda.

This is what we are exactly saying for the last ten years that the Taliban were never the enemies of the US, rather the American government led by the inept and myopic policies of George W Bush created an enemy out of the Taliban. If the US-led war on terror is taken as an outcome of the good intent we make following assumptions:

(1). We assume that the fateful events of 9/11 were carried out by Osama bin Laden and his outfit Al-Qaeda.

(2). We assume that at the time of 9/11 Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were in Afghanistan and were duly protected by the Taliban.

(3). We assume that the Taliban refused to cooperate the US in expelling or capturing Osama and his companions

(4). We also assume that while planning a military action on Afghanistan the US leadership had only one objective in mind; to eliminate Al Qaeda, and did not have any other ambitions like making a foothold in Central Asia, exploit the economic resources of the region, make an alliance against emerging power of China or dissipate the nuclear arsenal of Pakistan as the only Islamic country possessing the same.

Let us analyze what was the best solution available with the US to deal with the situation. The Taliban were in total control of Afghanistan except for a small valley in the north. They had been able to maintain excellent law and order situation in this war-torn country infested with a large number of war lords. Despite of their extremely myopic view of Islam which was not even accepted by the Muslim countries, the Taliban never carried out any act of terrorism outside the boundaries of their landlocked country. We can thus comfortably assume that the Taliban were never the enemies of America or the West.

Under such conditions it was advisable for the US to have initiated a process of dialog with the Taliban regime. A very skilful diplomatic offensive coupled with the weapon of development would have created favorable conditions. The US should have used Pakistan’s good relations and historical linkages with Taliban to mold the situation in their (the US) favor. So far the US government has spent over $ 477 billion on Afghan war only and there is still no end in sight. As per the US leadership the coalition forces may stay in Afghanistan beyond 2014 also. Had the Bush administration spent just one forth of this amount on the development of Afghanistan and to win over the Taliban, the situation would have been totally different. With diplomatic initiatives the Taliban would have agreed to expel Osama and Al Qaeda from their country. However that was a time consuming exercise and the Bush administration was adamant to achieve quick results. Those results are still far away and peace in the region is illusive.

The recent statement of Joe Biden seems to be an effort to mend ways with the Taliban and aims to control the damage done. Still it is not too late and peace can be brought in the region through meaningful negotiations with the Taliban.