[Brian Mosely]

In the State Department, eh? You might have seen this earlier:

Terrorists had a friend in Clinton White House called Robin

Attention is sure to be focused on the role of Robin Raphel, former assistant secretary of state, in downplaying the threat from Taliban, as the gaze turns inwards.

The diplomat who had upset India by her insensitive remarks over Kashmir, aggressively pushed for staying engaged with the Taliban even when evidence available with the State Department pointed to the futility of winking at the abysmal human rights record and fundamentalist agenda of the clerics ruling from Kabul.

The examination of documents may give a new turn to the debate on whether there was an intelligence failure behind the success of the terrorists.

Sources, who are familiar with the contents of the reports submitted by the counter-terrorism and South Asia desks of the State Department, feel that attacks were perhaps facilitated by the failure to act on the intelligence available with it.

Lots of other stuff on this thread too...

[gov_bean_ counter]

Hey, wait a minute. Liberal peacenics and newsies have been telling us that the Taliban is a result of U.S. support of the Afghans against Soviet invasion. They would not mislead U.S., would they?

[Nita Nupress]

Thanks, Brian. I was looking for that link but got sidetracked when I saw something about Ozzy Osborne!

Actually, I was looking up info on Robin Raphel when I ran across Rohrabacher's Senate testimony.

I would get a lot more done if I could ever stay focused. :)

[gov_bean_ counter]

It is my guess that this amoral, or immoral policy is based on the assumption that the Taliban would bring stability to Afghanistan and permit the building of oil pipelines from central Asia through Afghanistan to Pakistan.

Does Occidental Petrol factor into the desire for pipeline development?

[piasa]

Look whose house got raided [2014]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/us-diplomat-and-longtime-pakistan-expert-under-federal-investigation/2014/11/06/f7fd3240-65f1-11e4-9fdc-d43b053ecb4d_story.html?tid=trending_strip_4