I couldn't have said it better

No, really. I couldn't have put it better than Adler did. (ht:sda)

The Toronto Star's Thomas Walkom, whose columns "inform" the values of mainstream Liberals, has now decided that the recent set of negotiations between the Taliban and the South Koreans should persuade us that the road to peace in Afghanistan may be paved with some Taliban diplomacy. Walkom thinks that South Korea's deal to gain the release of 19 South Korean Christian missionaries from the Taliban is one that should persuade us that we have a peace partner in Afghanistan.

Walkom writes, "It puts the lie to those, including the current Canadian government, who say it is impossible or counterproductive to strike a deal with the Islamist insurgents. Clearly South Korea found the talks quite productive."

So let me get this straight, Mr. Walkom: After the Taliban captured 21 missionaries, killed two of them and took a ransom payment of $20-million for the rest of them, you are telling us that we ought to think of the Taliban as legitimate partner in Afghan peacemaking. Thanks for the heads up Mr. Walkom. Now when Liberal mouth breathers start regurgitating this wickedly foul gumbo, we won't be shocked. The head choppers in Afghanistan are assured of victory if enough of us over here begin losing our heads. [Babbler's highlight]

Negotiating with those who would not only take hostages and ransom them, but kill a couple of them in the bargain, is not only morally repugnant, it's counterproductive from a practical standpoint because it sends precisely the wrong message to those who would kidnap and kill for money and power in Afghanistan.

You don't even need to take my word for that:

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi vowed to abduct more foreigners, reinforcing fears that South Korea's decision to negotiate directly with the militants would embolden them.

"We will do the same thing with the other allies in Afghanistan, because we found this way to be successful," he told The Associated Press via cell phone from an undisclosed location.

What those who want to negotiate - right now, under the current circumstances - with the hard-core Taliban and Al Qaeda insurgents refuse to accept is that some of those who prey upon others won't be placated by fair and open talks. Some just need to have their oxygen ration cut to nil.