Since it purportedly works so well in other contexts, why not line the coffers of the Taliban too? Isn’t it poverty that motivates them, anyway?
“The Way Out of Afghanistan: We need to buy off our enemies” — Jizya madness at Newsweek by Fareed Zakaria, September 12:
It’s time to get real about Afghanistan. Withdrawal is not a serious option. The United States, NATO, the European Union, and other nations have invested massively in stabilizing the country over the past eight years, and they will not–and should not–abandon it because the Taliban is proving a tougher foe than anticipated. But it’s also time for the Obama administration to get real about the country…
… The focus must shift from nation building to dealmaking. The central problem in Afghanistan is that the Pashtuns, who make up 45 percent of the country and almost 100 percent of the Taliban, do not feel empowered. We need to start talking to them, whether they are nominally Taliban or not. Buying, renting, or bribing Pashtun tribes should become the centerpiece of America’s stabilization strategy, as it was Britain’s when it ruled Afghanistan.
Efforts to reach out to the Taliban so far have been limited and halfhearted…
Aww, why can’t we all just give jizya a chance?
…A few years from now, we can be sure that Afghanistan will still be poor, corrupt, and dysfunctional. But if we make the right deals, it will be ruled by leaders who keep the country inhospitable to Al Qaeda and terrorist groups like it. That’s my definition of success.
And sending money to the Taliban does this…how?