Michael Fumento

Is it time to negotiate with the Taliban? Pakistani strongman Pervez Musharraf cut a deal with the Afghan extremists last fall, allowing them to flourish safely in his nation's Waziristan province. Then-Sen. Majority Leader Bill Frist said in October that we must "assimilate" them into the Afghan government. Now, in apparent reaction to civilian deaths caused by the Taliban strategy of hiding among regular Afghanis, Afghanistan's upper house of legislature has voted for an immediate cease-fire and talks followed by withdrawal of NATO forces.

But as I write in my NY Post commentary, the futility of talks is obvious from Taliban beliefs and history, with the latest example being Musharraf's deal. They got action from him; he got a broken promise from them. To put it bluntly, anybody who calls for such negotiations is an idiot - or is named Mullah Omar.