As Obama Dawdles, Taliban Mount Terrorist Offensive Across South Asia

Atlas Shrugs reported yesterday, "Taliban Bomb Indian Embassy in Kabul, Obama Surrenders, Accepts Some Taliban Involvement in Afghanistan's Political Future."

Now today, three back-to-back reports at the Los Angeles Times illustrate the catastrophic dangers likely to follow from the Obama administration's vacillation on Afghanistan:

First, "Obama Shifting Focus to Al Qaeda Over Taliban: The Evolving Strategy Could Help the Administration Avoid the Major Troop Increase Being Sought by U.S. military Commanders in Afghanistan."

That's followed by, "Taliban Claims Responsibility for Kabul Embassy Attack: The Suicide Bombing is the Second Against the Indian Embassy in the Afghan Capital in 15 months. It kills 17 people and injures 76. In India, Suspicions Focus on Pakistan."

And now this evening's report, "Pakistan Suicide Car Bombing Kills 49 at Market: The Government Believes the Taliban is Behind the Bombing. The Militants Have Vowed to Step Up Suicide Attacks as the Military Prepares for an All-Out Offensive in South Waziristan":

The attack was a deadly reminder of the risks President Obama faces as he considers shifting his regional strategy to focus on Al Qaeda rather than the Afghan Taliban as the biggest threat to American security. The administration wants to make a distinction between the Taliban, based in Afghanistan and Pakistan and regarded as fundamentalist militants driven by a local agenda, and Al Qaeda's global terrorist network.

However, such a shift will have to take into account the role that the Pakistani Taliban plays in providing sanctuary to Al Qaeda in Pakistan's largely lawless tribal areas. When Al Qaeda militants fled eastern Afghanistan during the U.S.-led invasion in 2001, they entrenched themselves in the Waziristan region of northwestern Pakistan with the help of Pakistani Taliban fighters.

But recall Tuesday's briefing from the New York Daily News, "Taliban Claims Responsibility for Attack on United Nations World Food Program's Pakistan Compound." This article notes that an "estimated 10,000 Taliban fighters are preparing for battle" in South Waziristan, in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Also, pay attention to the last minute of the video above, featuring South Asia expert Daniel Markey of the Council on Foreign Relations. Markey says that "it's hard to draw a line between those groups that are not threatening to us" and those like al Qaeda. Markey notes that the Taliban have ties to a number al Qaeda offshoots. And thus recall my report from last week, "Another Mumbai? Qaeda-Taliban-Lashkar Ready to Strike Again." Intelligence reports indicate that the terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba is gearing up for another round of attacks across South Asia, and a new round of Mumbai-style strikes could further destabilize the region. Wikipedia's entry for Lashkar-e-Taiba notes that the group has "developed deep linkages with Afghanistan and has several Afghan nationals in its cadre. The outfit had also cultivated links with the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan and also with Osama bin Laden and his Al Qaeda network."

I simply fail to appreciate the wisdom of the Obama administration's rethinking of the Taliban danger in Afghanistan. President Obama's dawdling is putting in danger the lives of people around the world. But, the folks up in Oslo really like him!

See also, Hot Air, "New White House Sin: Taliban Nt Rally An Enemy, Has Role in Afghanistan’s Future."

RELATED: The Washington Post, "If We Lose Afghanistan..."