Do you believe that the Taliban want to "participate in Afghan politics" as anything but a ruler?
The issue is that neither side will "work with" the other. They will fight until one loses, and the winner will take all. We're not talking about Democrats and Republicans here; this is Afghanistan. For us, a Taliban win is unacceptable and a Karzai win is not. Silly corner to be in, but we backed ourselves into it when we decided to try to govern Afghanistan by proxy.
Do you really believe that if we just find the "right" government structure the Taliban, Karzai, and all other factions will all sit together, play nicely, and morph into good little democratic practitioners? If so, why?
The people who live there don't have one "interest". They have many perceived "interests", and those interests are often conflicting. That's why they fight a lot. Neither Karzai nor the Taliban have any concern for the interests of the people or any segment thereof; they want power, all of it. If they get it they will advance their own interests and crush their opposition until they are overthrown. Again, this is Afghanistan, not the Netherlands. If it was the Netherlands we wouldn't be there.
We didn't pick a side. We created a side to advance our interests, and now we're shocked and horrified that the side we created is pursuing its own interests. Duh. Time for us to grow a collective brain cell and stop trying to install governments in these places. It's not something we have the tools or capacity to do and it requires more commitment then we are willing to make.
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