Karzai appoints a bin Laden fan to parliament.
Courtesy of Ann Marlowe:
Second, plenty of Taliban and al-Qaeda sympathizers and enablers are already in the Afghan government, both in Parliament and in governor and district governor positions appointed by President Karzai. In fact, President Karzaiâ??s choice for speaker of the lower house of Parliament, Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, was the man who brought Osama bin Laden to Afghanistan in the first place. On Sunday, the legislators chose an obscure Uzbek Afghan as speaker, an MP from strife-torn Kunduz Province who had previously fought with Hekmatyarâ??s group Hezb-i-Islami. Not an encouraging selection, but miles ahead of Sayyaf, whoâ??d had the highest vote total on a previous ballot.
Her whole piece, on why it's pointless to negotiate with the Taliban, is worth reading.
