By John Mueller
Publisher: Foreign Affairs

The Taliban and Al Qaeda may not pose enough of a threat to the United States to make a long war in Afghanistan worth the costs.

The author believes that “George W. Bush led the United States into war in Iraq on the grounds that Saddam Hussein might give his country’s nonexistent weapons of mass destruction to terrorists.

Now, Bush’s successor is perpetuating the war in Afghanistan with comparably dubious arguments about the danger posed by the Taliban and al Qaeda.”

The author believes the argument that “if the Taliban win in Afghanistan, Al Qaeda will once again be able to carry out its work from Afghanistan” has not been examined enough.

The article goes on to discuss the Taliban’s initial reluctance to host Al Qaeda in the 1990’s, Taliban anger at Al Qaeda for the 9/11 attacks (which the Taliban had nothing to do with) that have resulted in the Taliban being ousted from power and the fact that Al Qaeda has yet to establish a significant presence in the U.S..

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/64932/john-mueller/how-dangerous-are-the-taliban

Tags: Afghanistan, Al Qaeda, Bush, Iraq, Taliban, United States, war

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