Commentary
Recognizing the Taliban goes against what the United States should stand for in the 21st century. Recently, a former CIA officer Douglas London wrote in Foreign Policy arguing that the United States should bite the bullet and recognize the Taliban. Reports from intelligence community sources suggest this has been actively discussed on the inside; consequently, London isn’t isolated in his thinking.
“While no country has granted diplomatic recognition to the Taliban, the act itself, though symbolically significant, is merely a hollow gesture devoid of substantive impact unless accompanied by a process of normalization that entails the establishment of diplomatic channels to facilitate constructive dialogue,” London and his co-author, former Afghan Ambassador Javid Ahmad, wrote….