Po-tay-to, po-tah-to.

The Afghan government will not negotiate with the resurgent Taliban as a group, Afghanistan’s national security adviser Zalmai Rassoul said on Wednesday.

In an interview in Berlin with Reuters, the adviser to President Hamid Karzai said there was “no way” the government could negotiate with the hardline Islamists even though Karzai offered peace talks on Monday, but without naming the Taliban. Article

Undercutting the Brits, for starters, by replacing a scalpel with a sledgehammer.

American forces in Afghanistan are poised to attempt to recapture the town of Musa Qala…

[snip]

About 30 paratroops from 16 Air Assault Brigade Regiment were ordered to withdraw from Musa Qala in November as part of a deal with tribal elders and the governor of Helmand. The American military were said to be “absolutely furious” at what they saw as a pullout by their principal partners, complaining that it left Musa Qala under Taleban control.

Brigadier Jerry Thomas, who took over as commander of the British Task Force in the province after the withdrawal deal was agreed, denied that the Taleban had been involved in the consultations over the future of Musa Qala. The British insist that the deal could point the way for future security arrangements, giving tribal elders a greater role in keeping the Taleban in check.

But the withdrawal caused a rift between the American and British military. The American view is that northern Helmand has become a no-go zone and needs to be dealt with aggressively. There is now every expectation that General McNeill may try to reverse the deal and put even more troops back into the town to expel the Taleban. Article

Related: So much for any possible progress (and hard-won trust) already underway:

Seasoned British officers assigned in southern Afghanistan to clean up the mess created by the Americans can sense that big trouble is simmering, but they are convinced that any aggressive policy will aggravate the situation.

They realize that they have to accept the Taliban’s existence as a reality, strike peace deals with them and allow them into the political power-sharing apparatus. This, they argue, can be done through extensive reconstruction, which is the only way to isolate hardline insurgents. Military might, therefore, is to be used only for the security of the people, not for aggressive armed campaigns.

[snip]

There is no military solution to the insurgency,” said Nic Kay, the British regional coordinator for southern Afghanistan. Kay is a seasoned official of the Foreign Commonwealth Office (FCO) and heads all operations in Helmand province. He previously served in Pakistan and Afghanistan, besides serving as a senior desk officer handling Afghanistan and Pakistan in the FCO.

“It would be a blunder if we assess the situation with a single-track mind. We need to appreciate the fact that ‘Taliban’ is a generic name and there are a whole lot of reasons behind the support for the Taliban in southwestern Afghanistan,” Kay told Asia Times Online in his newly built office at the British task force camp in Lashkar Gah, Helmand province.

[snip]

District shuras (councils) have been established across the province to make contact with the Taliban. The traditional structures of tribal elders and mullahs are part of the shuras, which to date have struck peace deals in Sangeen and Nawzad districts. A peace agreement in Musa Qala was secured some months ago.

“These peace agreements are actually a blessing for the people of Helmand province as they have got rid of the fighting. In the meantime, it allows us to address people’s concerns, like law and order and development work,” said Kay.

“For instance, three weeks ago the Afghan Auxiliary Police were deployed in Musa Qala. The police have been stationed for the protection of specific development projects like the National Solidarity Program, which is being undertaken by the Bangladeshi NGO [non-governmental organization] BRAC [Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee]. This includes the construction of new mosques and schools, and in the meantime, with the help of the shura, we have make sure that the Taliban do not disrupt these development works,” Kay said.

Kay acknowledged that despite the peace agreements, the Taliban still move around relatively freely and that the shuras themselves comprise pro-Taliban people. But Kay is confident that as long as all the protocols of the agreements are implemented, gradually the writ of the Afghan government will become stronger and the hardline Taliban will be isolated. Article

The lack of immediate assignment of blame is tres unusual.

Insurgents burned down a primary school in south-eastern Afghanistan, police said yesterday, in the second such attack this year targeting the country’s struggling education system.

The primary school was set ablaze overnight in the Kharwar district of Logar province, the Afghan interior ministry, which controls the police, said in a statement.

“The ministry condemns this unforgivable action of foreign mercenaries,” it said, without referring to any particular country or group.

Similar attacks in the past have always been blamed on the remnants of the Taleban regime. The Afghan government says the militants are supported by circles in Pakistan. Article