Political, not military, solution in Afghanistan

The Afghan Taliban are a political and social movement using military means to achieve their political and social goals of gaining control of Afghanistan to throw out the Americans and NATO troops and reasserting Sharia law and their idea of social justice. They have no goals outside of Afghanistan.

Al-Qaida is a terrorist organization intent on international jihad, destroying the West infrastructure and the West's way of life. They are the threat, not the Taliban. Al-Qaida is not in Afghanistan.

The key to Afghanistan is to bring the moderate Taliban into the political process just as the key in Iraq was to bring in the Sunni, sons of Iraq, who came to see that al-Qaida aims were to create chaos and kill innocents.

The Karzi government is so corrupt, as the recent election fraud shows, that it must be reformed. This corruption is what fuels the Taliban.

We need a plan to grant amnesty to moderate Taliban, give them a say in the governance of their villages and put them on our payroll for them to provide security in their villages against jihad Taliban and al-Qaida.

For this to happen, we will need a process for new elections to elect local representatives, not just electing a president and letting him pick his own corrupt cronies as province and village heads. There is no military solution in Afghanistan, only a political one.

Col. William Peterson

USMC, Retired

North Liberty