VP Biden Says that ‘The Taliban, Per Se, Is Not Our Enemy’
EmailIn interview with Newsweek/Daily Beast, Vice President Biden asserted that “the Taliban per se is not our enemy.”
The ongoing reconciliation process has long included bringing in forces who have taken up arms against the U.S. and against the Afghan government, but Biden might face criticism for stating that as an organization the Taliban is not the enemy of the U.S., when its leadership and members have devoted so much time, resources and energy towards killing American soldiers.
Republicans are already circulating the quote, noting that U.S. forces are still killing, and being killed by, Taliban fighters, trying to figure out how to use the quote given the reality that any peace in Afghanistan will by necessity likely need to include a brokered peace with Taliban forces.
The interview was conducted by Les Gelb, with whom Biden authored the so-called “soft partition” plan to divide Iraq into three semi-autonomous regions: Sunni, Shi’a and Kurd.
In the wide-ranging interview, Biden talks about how Pakistan was able to live with a Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, which the U.S. would have been able to do had the Taliban stopped harboring al Qaeda. He asserts that the U.S. could have lived with the Taliban too, if that government had turned over al-Qaeda members.
Then the VP then turned to the reconciliation process, saying, “We are in a position where if Afghanistan ceased and desisted from being a haven for people who do damage and have as a target the United States of America and their allies, that’s good enough. That’s good enough. We’re not there yet. Look, the Taliban per se is not our enemy. That’s critical. There is not a single statement that the president has ever made in any of our policy assertions that the Taliban is our enemy because it threatens U.S. interests. If, in fact, the Taliban is able to collapse the existing government, which is cooperating with us in keeping the bad guys from being able to do damage to us, then that becomes a problem for us.”
You can read the whole interview HERE.
-Jake Tapper
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Yup, take one sentence out of context. Read the FULL quote and it is a very different meaning.What he is saying is that the Taliban CAN be a problem if it collapses the current Afghan government. He i not saying that we like the Taliban or accept them, he is explaining the organization within the context of the Afghan Government and its hoped for success or failure. Unfortunately, Joe is not very good at explaining himself.
Posted by: pksk531 | December 19, 2011, 1:56 pm 1:56 pm
The Taliban isn’t as much a enemy of the administration’s as much a problem to them as much as actual US citizens who are going to vote out the worst administration ever next year. I’m still stunned by Obama. We were told that nothing could be worse than Bush, but that was so tragically wrong! Bush was taking the country slowly in the wrong direction and Obama simply picked up the torch and then began sprinting even further and faster in the wrong direction!
Posted by: TexBork2011 | December 19, 2011, 2:37 pm 2:37 pm
Of course the Taliban is not your enemy Joe. They are buddies with your boss the inept, and incompetent one. Whats next for these clowns, Billy Carter for Secratary of State? I’m not sure we will have enough pieces to pick up after kicking these idiots to the curb come November.
Posted by: HUH? | December 19, 2011, 2:52 pm 2:52 pm
Actually, the Taliban are the enemy of everyone else on this planet………they are total extremists, who would force everyone else on this planet to follow their law.
Biden obviously has no ability to tell the truth, about anything, any more than Obama does.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | December 19, 2011, 3:14 pm 3:14 pm
Mr. BITE-ME is doing an ass-kissing spin to the Taliban in an desperate attempt to create world peace. Wrong! Your boss cannot stop the water from the ocean from rising. Your boss cannot stop heal the earth from all the perils. You boss will be unemployed by 2012.
Posted by: acdc2012 | December 19, 2011, 3:37 pm 3:37 pm
Gotta love the way the Republican right is incapable of reading more than a single phrase. Or the way they ignore everything but a single phrase in order to attempt to manipulate the public. They put the sleaze in sleazy.
Posted by: Jackson | December 19, 2011, 4:09 pm 4:09 pm
“Republicans are already circulating the quote, noting that U.S. forces are still killing, and being killed by, Taliban fighters, trying to figure out how to use the quote given the reality that any peace in Afghanistan will by necessity likely need to include a brokered peace with Taliban forces.”
Hmmmm. What to do, what to do, what to do…….. Slam Biden for an out-of-context sound byte, or acknowledge reality? Tough choice for the Right…….
Posted by: Searambler | December 19, 2011, 4:21 pm 4:21 pm
Biden continues to prove the old adage…. “you can’t fix stupid”….. but it does make it easier for the left wing to defend you and continue to vote for you.
Posted by: Michelle Shu Jas | December 19, 2011, 4:31 pm 4:31 pm
Yeah Joe is always being taken out of context… like the time he said Obama was “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,”.
Completely Taken Out of Context!!! LOL…
Posted by: Denbo | December 19, 2011, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
Joe, far be it for me to criticize an American Vice President, but it’s time for you to choose … either you’re with us or against us!
Posted by: Hazmat77 | December 19, 2011, 4:38 pm 4:38 pm
Joe, while the Taliban may not be our country’s enemy per se, they are the enemy of every woman on this planet whom they would subjugate and degrade.
Posted by: wordygirl | December 19, 2011, 4:42 pm 4:42 pm
I have never voted for any president, but i will vote to remove these people from the white house. i can not believe what i just heard. “per se” “per se”? You will not be in office for long, and i believe you have been there for too long, per se.
Posted by: whatthe.... | December 20, 2011, 7:20 am 7:20 am
Biden’s next job should be a test dummy for the “Green Cars”, when he’s dumped in 2012.
Posted by: Mr. Patriot | December 20, 2011, 9:42 am 9:42 am
So, tell,me. Is this an example of the nuanced thinking that the elite liberal politicians and press purport to have a monopoly on?
Posted by: MRH | December 20, 2011, 4:36 pm 4:36 pm
And people said Sarah Palin’s not smart. Good grief, get this insider out of Washington. I’m sure everyone feels better knowing he is second in command. Let’s hope Clinton replaces him on the ticket.
Posted by: DenverDean | December 21, 2011, 12:46 am 12:46 am
OF COURSE the Taliban is not our enemy, “per se” – not when we are PAYING THEM to destabilize Libya, Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries. Since we are practically subsidizing an enemy to fight, the least we can do is take them off the terror list.
Posted by: Jimmy | December 28, 2011, 1:44 am 1:44 am