Whiskey Taliban Foxtrot

First responders to rumors that 44 may be entertaining the idea of hanging out, chatting up Taliban and doing the old place at the table routine inspire a 'whiskey tango foxtrot' moment.

Essentially, Taliban chose war with Great Satan.

Taliban could have gave up super villan OBL, the evil DR Z and the legendary Brigade 055 any time after 911 and before Great Satan began extracting righteous payback a month later.

Taliban refused and fought for a while, then freaked out and split - leaving the vaunted Brigade 055 to fight to annihilation in 2001

Living to fight another day, Great Satan's pride of our nation fought a desperate holding action at a new millennium Alamo against a posse of Taliban that at least seemed organized to almost battalion strength. A far remote outpost (that instead of proving Great Satan is stretching thin - may instead make the case that Great Satan is stretching out) that was the scene of battle.

The other way to think about this is:

"We have a terrorist problem, al-Qaeda, which has become embedded in an insurgency, the Taliban. Of course, if we could somehow disembowel the terrorist problem from the insurgency, that would be a very good outcome."

" But there is nothing in the history of the relationship between these two movements over more than a decade now that suggests that is imminent, or likely."

Certainly it's true that insurgents can come to the table and take a stake in their nation -- like certain tribes in Anbar and Iraq did but Taliban and allied allies may not be there - just yet

Recent Talibani surges in Pakistan proper (talk about psychic!) and several battles in Afghanistan later -- may make any idea of cozying up to Taliban a nonstarter for a while yet.

Time for Great Satan to get mean and scary.

"Military victory would require additional troops, the wide use of land mines (even if Princess Diana spins in her grave), and the killing of the enemy and its civilian supporters in the numbers needed to make them admit the game is not worth it."

Pic - "Tuck You, Faliban"