If We Could Talk to the Taliban/Just Imagine It/Chatting With Jihadis in Pashto...

The U.S. confirms that it is "reaching out" to Afghanistan's bad guys.

Update: Employing dance terminology, an expert casts doubt on the efficacy of the "talks":

Michael O'Hanlon, a national security expert at the nonpartisan Brookings Institution, said negotiating with "Taliban Central" will be difficult, especially because of the hard-core ideology espoused by Taliban leader Mullah Muhammad Omar and the powerful Haqqani network.

"I don't think Mullah Omar is going to do a deal. And he has enough clout that if we can somehow convince him to compromise, that would be wonderful," O'Hanlon said. "But the problem is that leadership is not likely to do a deal because these are pretty hard-core ideologues and there's really no evidence (they're willing to compromise) ... it takes two to tango."

The tango--isn't that one of those infidel dances Sayyid Qutb got so hot and bothered about?