The United States of America has had a historical policy that they do not "negotiate with terrorists".
How was brokering a trade of POWs between opposing sides of the War on Terror possible without deviating from this policy?
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2Are you really looking for a philosophical perspective?? Otherwise politics.stackexchange.com (or even english.stackexchange.com, or, less likely, history.stackexchange.com) may be more suitable.– user3164Jun 16, 2014 at 19:17
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5This question appears to be off-topic because it is about politics: politics.stackexchange.com.– user3164Jun 16, 2014 at 19:18
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1Thank you; moved: politics.stackexchange.com/questions/3366/…– user266926Jun 16, 2014 at 19:43
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1Sounds like politics, not philosophy. But the Taliban are not terrorists. They operate within Afghanistan and were the legal government of Afghanistan before the US invaded. And they'll be the legal government of Afghanistan after the US leaves. The philosophical issue is how the US could stumble into the exact same losing strategy that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.– user4894Jun 16, 2014 at 20:02
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1 Answer
Question assumes that:
1.) Not negotiating with terrorists is an actual policy the U.S. follows (it's not*)
- http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/06/10/the-right-didn-t-mind-when-bush-paid-a-ransom-to-terrorists.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran%E2%80%93Contra_affair
2.) That the standard conventions of war should not be applied to the Taliban (who the U.S. declared war in in 2002), just because of an arbitrary political designation of "terrorist" is in play
I propose that "not negotiating with terrorists" is a political tool to attack opponents more than an actual standard to govern by, and as such isn't suitable to actually adhere to.
(Yeah, probably wrong area for this question. I already worked up my response so going to leave it.)
answered Jun 16, 2014 at 19:49
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1Before you answered, the OP indicated that the question now has a duplicate at Politics SE. Perhaps you'd like to answer there? I'll flag the question for suggested deletion.– user3164Jun 16, 2014 at 19:52