US should not attempt to negotiate with Taliban, says Mitt Romney

US should not attempt to negotiate with Taliban, says Mitt Romney

Former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney has stated that the United States should not attempt to negotiate with the Taliban.

Romney, who is US Republican Presidential favourite has also criticised Obama management for trying to initiate covert talks with Afghan rebellions.

“The right course for America is not to negotiate with the Taliban while the Taliban are killing our soldiers. The right course is to recognise that they are the enemy of the United States,” Romney said.

He said so in a debate of the five Republican presidential candidates ahead of Saturday’s South Carolina Primary.

The former governor stressed that President Obama has jeopardised the position of United States as his decision was based on a political schedule. He also said that his decision is influenced by his earlier public announcement, where he proclaimed that date,
when USA will completely pull out all its forces from Afghanistan.

“We don’t negotiate from a position of weakness as we are pulling our troops out. We should not negotiate with the Taliban. We should defeat the Taliban,” he added.

High ranked US officials have told Reuters that the United States had initiated secret talks with groups of Taliban 10 months earlier. He added that the negotiations have reached at a severe point that involves an expected release of a Taliban prisoner from
the Guantanamo Bay military prison in the custody of Afghan government.

He told that the discharge of prisoner could be a mandatory step to making a successful peace agreement between the Taliban and Afghan government.

Nevertheless, Romney stressed that these negotiations will represent “extraordinary weakness” of US and will send a wrong message to the citizens of Afghanistan.

“Think what it says to the people of Afghanistan…if they see us, their ally, turning and negotiating with the very people they are going to have to protect their nation from,” Romney said.

If Romney conquers the Republican nomination, he will have the chance to compete with Obama on Election Day, November 6. However, Obama’s record on the foreign policy and national security is considered to be one of his greatest strengths as he may point
out towards the killing of Al Qaeda leader, Osama bin Ladin as his accomplishment.

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Posted by Mursil Mehmood Butt on Jan 17 2012. Filed under Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry