Press Secretary Robert Gibbs tried during this afternoon’s press briefing to draw a distinction between al Qaeda and the Taliban. While it’s hardly a sure thing, it’s possible that such a distinction might foreshadow a shift in U.S. strategy focusing more on counterinsurgency against al Qaeda than traditional military operations against the Taliban.
“There are differences between al Qaeda and the Taliban,” he said.
They’re not the same type of group. Al Qaeda is a global, transnational jihadist group that has conducted attacks on the United States homeland, conducted attacks on our allies.
Some in the Taliban “have similar agendas” and “have helped al Qaeda with safe haven.” Others, Gibbs said, “are local warlords that have far different agendas.”
The Taliban are obviously exceedingly bad people that have done awful things. Their capability is somewhat different, though, on that continuum of transnational threats.
Gibbs did note that the Taliban still present a threat to U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan, and are an issue in that they provide safe haven to al Qaeda. But he did seem to downplay the threat they presented to the U.S. — and the world.
Again, it’s probably premature to read too much into Gibbs’ comments. But they do seem like they’re intended to recast the conflict in Afghanistan as one specifically focused on al Qaeda — with less attention paid to the Taliban.
Late Update: Asked a seemingly straightforward question — “Does the administration believe it’s possible to defeat the Taliban?” — Gibbs struggled for several seconds to answer. He finally said that “there will be a larger discussion about Afghanistan particularly and the threats we face there.” That does not sound like a “yes.”
