Taliban

Only in America would a president respond to the public celebrating over the killing of Osama bin Laden with the sports cliche he used: "We don't need to spike the football. " But millions of Americans who have their eyes glued on gridirons across the country on weekend television knew at once what he meant — that there was no need to cheer the event as if the home team had just scored the winning touchdown. President Barack Obama uttered the advice in announcing that no photographs or video would be released of bin Laden's corpse, or its disposal into the Arabian Sea, to prove that he really was dead and gone.

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release May 1, 2011 REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT ON OSAMA BIN LADEN East Room 11:35 P.M. EDT THE PRESIDENT: Good evening. Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda, and a terrorist who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.

The recent revelation that a high-level Taliban "commander" who was negotiating terms of peace with the Afghan government was an imposter is a stunning embarrassment for the Karzai administration, NATO and the United States. Confidence in the value of a constructive dialogue with the Taliban, not to mention a lot of money, was surely drained in the process. The lesson from this debacle is not to stop trying to engage the Taliban but to do it smarter. The U.S.-backed policy of negotiating with the Taliban is the right one. As Gen. David Petraeus and others have said, we cannot kill or capture our way to victory when faced with a terrorist insurgency.

Americans have known for some time that the war in Afghanistan was not going well, and many have suspected that the situation there was much worse than the administration has been willing to publicly acknowledge. But the unauthorized release this week of some 90,000 classified military documents by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks — and their publication and analysis in The New York Times and two European newspapers — offers, for the first time, an excruciatingly detailed view of the difficulties the U.S. is facing against a formidable and determined adversary that is stronger today than at any time since the 2001 invasion that toppled the Taliban.

They ride in groups of two, three or a dozen at a time, gleefully popping wheelies on congested city streets, swarming around startled motorists or blithely sailing through stop signals at busy intersections. Hell's Angels? No, just your garden-variety Baltimore dirt bikers, a native species that seem to delight in thumbing their noses at both the law and common courtesy on the road. Baltimore police were again confronted with the bikers' lawless antics Wednesday, when an unlicensed teenage rider and his passenger ran a red light and slammed into a sedan at a West Baltimore intersection.

- Taliban militants reeling from American and Pakistani attacks launched a sophisticated raid on the heavily guarded U.S. Consulate in Peshawar on Monday, killing at least five security personnel in suicide bomb blasts and barrages of grenades and automatic gunfire. The midday attack failed to penetrate the facility in the volatile city near the Afghan border, and none of the staff members was injured or killed. The consulate is instrumental in channeling millions of dollars in U.S. aid into Pakistan's impoverished tribal areas and the Swat Valley region, part of Washington's long-term strategy aimed at eliminating support for the Taliban.

Just a few dozen yards from the bullet-riddled government building, Marine Brig. Gen. Larry Nicholson found more proof Saturday that the battle for Marja was over. "A popcorn vendor on the streets of Marja," Nicholson said in a gleeful voice as he found some coins in his pocket and bought a bag of freshly popped corn. "None of those tourist prices now," Nicholson joked as the vendor, understanding not a word of English, nodded in agreement. Two weeks ago, the same government building was the hub of fighting as Marines and Afghan soldiers battled Taliban insurgents who held sway in this town in southern Afghanistan.

- The current offensive in Marjah is a critical stepping stone for what is likely the most important fight of the Afghan surge in the coming months: securing Kandahar, the spiritual home of the Taliban and the most important city in southern Afghanistan, according to defense officials and analysts. The military is using the Marjah offensive to destroy an important Taliban haven, but also to test a strategy that emphasizes strong partnership with Afghan security forces and security for Afghan civilians.

The United States has delivered a fleet of drone aircraft and billions of dollars in aid to coax Pakistan to do more to confront Afghan Taliban militants taking refuge inside the country. But the Islamist group's second in command was captured in Karachi last week largely because the United States was also able to provide something else Pakistan has demanded for years: solid intelligence on where Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar could be found. American and Pakistani officials said Tuesday that the capture of Baradar was driven by a rare intelligence break that enabled U.S. spy agencies to pinpoint the Taliban military chief and help Pakistan's intelligence service organize a daring operation on short notice to arrest him. Officials in Washington said the capture spotlights a heightened level of cooperation that the United States has pursued relentlessly in recent years through a campaign of diplomatic and military pressure.