Consider this an open letter to CIA director John Brennan.
Dear Mr. Brennan:
You need to rethink your cockamamie notion that the Taliban is not a terrorist organization. Now!
Have you heard the news? The Taliban exploded a bomb in a park in Lahore. It killed 65 Christians who were gathered there. Most of the victims were women and children.
Let’s see. The attack occurred on Christianity’s holiest holiday. The Taliban actually stated it that it was targeting Christians. The victims were defenseless against the attack.
I do believe, Mr. Director, that the act committed today constitutes a bona fide act of terror. It was aimed precisely at non-combatants and its aim now is to put other such individuals or groups of individuals on notice that they may be next.
This is worth bringing up because of the exchange negotiated with the Taliban that brought about the release of Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, who’d been held by the Taliban for five years after he walked off his post in Afghanistan.
I’m sure you recall that White House press flack Josh Earnest said the United States “negotiated” the release because it doesn’t consider the Taliban to be a terrorist organization. We don’t “negotiate with terrorists,” Earnest told us.
Fair enough.
Except that the Taliban for decades has terrorized women and children. Yes, it has resorted to violence against those who oppose its repression.
Now we have this incident of terror in the park in Lahore, Pakistan.
It was committed by the Taliban. The group sought to terrorize innocent people.
If this is not the action of a terrorist organization, then no such organization exists anywhere on the planet. We all know that’s not the case.
The Taliban needs to be treated as the terrorists they are — and always have been.