Daily Archives: 4 October 2017

Doha and the Taliban

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An internal “dissent channel cable” that objects to State Department consideration of closing the Doha, Qatar, office through which supposed negotiations with the Taliban have been conducted has been leaked to the NLMSM by “current and former US officials.”

According to the dissenters, it would be a mistake to close off this diplomatic channel, as it would signal our disdain for negotiation with the Taliban.  These worthies also express disdain for National Security Adviser LtGen HR McMaster’s support for a “fight, then talk” process aimed at producing incentives for the Taliban to negotiate seriously.

There are a couple points to be made about the cable and its dissenters that go directly to the credibility of the dissenters.

The leak of this internal document is an example of the dishonesty of the Obama holdovers and ex-holdovers who are the “current and former US officials” who leaked it.

The wish to keep open the Doha office, which has produced exactly zero results over the years, is an example of those persons’ incompetence.

There are lots of channels for diplomacy available; when the Taliban get serious about wanting peace and Afghan safety, they know how to contact us.  Ideally, battlefield results from fighting first and talking afterward will produce that seriousness.  That part remains to be seen, but it has nothing to do with the utility of maintaining a failed chat room.

A Referendum

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Catalonia is trying to have one (had one as you read this) on whether the Autonomous Community should completely separate from Spain.  It’s turning violent as the Spanish military organization with police duties, the Guardia Civil, and the more civilian Policía Nacional, are using hammers and other such tools to break into locked buildings within which voting is occurring and truncheons and rubber bullets to try to block Catalans from entering and voting.

Nearly 850 civilian casualties had been inflicted by late Sunday, Dallas time.

This is counterproductive.  Like the Quebecois separation referenda, Madrid should let the Catalan referendum go forward without interference.  Most Catalans want the referendum, and most would vote to stay in Spain.

That vote would defuse the separation movement for a good long time.

The violent suppression is not going to work in the long run.

As Catalan President Carles Puigdemont is putting it,

The unjustified, unchecked, irresponsible violence by the Spanish state today didn’t just fail to stop Catalans’ will to peacefully and democratically vote….” It also made clear “what is at stake for us.”

It’s true enough that Puigdemont is playing politics with his characterization, but the characterization itself and its outcome isn’t far wrong.  Marc Quintana, a 34-year-old carpenter who was forcibly removed by police in Sant Julià before he could vote:

The only thing this will do is make those undecided people vote “yes” to independence[.]

It’s also true that the referendum is illegal under Spanish law.  However, if Madrid really thought it needed to arrest the referendum leaders, they could do that a lot more easily after a failed referendum.