Sunday, September 20, 2009

Ed Davey & Tea With the Taleban

Sometimes I wonder what on earth possessed Nick Clegg to give the foreign affairs portfolio to Ed Davey. His speech to the LibDem conference this morning will have left LibDems wondering the same thing. I've read the whole thing, and it was toe-curling. But one passage stuck out...
It’s time for tea with the Taleban - and tea with the multitude of local tribal Afghan insurgent leaders.

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think we can end the military mission overnight. We will still have to ask our amazingly brave armed forces to stand up to hostile insurgents. Perhaps for some time to come.

But tea is actually the most potent drug in Afghanistan if you want peace. It’s how peace deals have been struck in Afghanistan down the ages.


Tea with the Taleban? What a ridiculous phrase, and one which is an insult to those who serve with our armed forces in Afghanistan. Whatever one's view of whether one should open some sort of communication with the Taleban, this is a phrase which should come back to haunt Ed Davey. It was cringemaking in its inappropriateness. And I suspect that when I discuss it with my LibDem friends in Bournemouth later on tonight.

11 comments:

Mirtha Tidville said...

Cringeworthy indeed Iain......but isnt that the Lub Dums all over!!!!!

Walsingham's Ghost said...

Oh my Sainted Aunt!

And this chap is an MP, right?

Just remind me again, Iain, how many members of our "...amazingly brave armed forces..." have we buried this month?

Crass, badly worded, badly timed and ill-advised in the extreme - and the LibDems want to be in Government?...

Anonymous said...

You getting the beers in Iain? if you are I'll be there

SatansProphet said...

Ed Davey is correct,however, when he says that tea is the lubricant to building any form of relationship in Afghanistan. It is only after consuming gallons of the stuff that any form of trust between two parties can develop.

Fitaloon said...

I assume he will be cutting the crusts off the cucumber sandwiches as well.

Anonymous said...

Lib Dems are the raving loony party!

Plato said...

Perhaps we can use the tea drinking meetings to secretly bump them off using custard creams.

Jonathan Campbell said...

"Tea with the taliban" is a phrase thats been used before, Sean Langan used it with his tails from the axis of evil.

It's an excellent documentary that explains a lot about the mind set of the mid ranking and lower ranks of the taliban. before the war.

strapworld said...

And this 'prat' is one of those that David Cameron wants to form an alliance with!! I ask you, sometimes I wonder what Cameron drinks at times!

Anonymous said...

One thing I've learnt from the GLC / Ken Livingstone 'axis of evil' is that the more right-wingers foam at the mouth, the more likely that the thing which they are foaming at the mouth about is likely to come to fruition..

Remember all that stuff from the Tories when Red Ken dared to suggest talking to the IRA and they all said it was never going to happen ? The louder they yelled the more likely it was that they would be forced to eat their words.

And lo it came to pass under John Major..

So when David Cameron orders two cups of Breakfast Tea and some tea cakes for the Taliban, don't say you weren't warned...

Anonymous said...

Yes Anonymous, but the members of the IRA could speak English, eh and didn't carry swords, ride camels, rape women and children, keep them from going to school and grow poppies, did they? Most of the Talleyban are backward and uneducated. I suppose there must be SOME chiefs there who are halfway civilized. One could only hope.