Mattis: Taliban Can't Be Part of a Political Solution in Afghanistan

On Monday secretary of Defense James Mattis appeared to break with the Obama administration's position of the preceding eight years that there is "no military solution" to the conflict in Afghanistan. At an appearance with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and the Defense and Foreign ministers of Australia, Mattis said "they [the Taliban] use bombs, because ballots would ensure they never had a role to play[.]"

This is an abrupt shift from the previous administration's view. In 2011, then-secretary of State Hillary Clinton said there's "a very clear need to continue fighting those who would undermine this progress. At the same time though, we know that there is no military solution to bringing peace and stability to Afghanistan." And a year ago Ambassador Michele J. Sison, the U.S. Deputy Representative to the United Nations, claimed that:

The United States remains committed to encouraging a peace process between the Afghan government and the Taliban, and we view such a process as the only avenue to end the war. There is no military solution to the conflict. The Taliban must understand that they can only achieve their goals, including the withdrawal of international military forces, through a peace process that leads to a negotiated settlement.

Secretary of State Tillerson did not go as far as Mattis on Monday, yet his answer to a question on Afghanistan was markedly different than the answers of his predecessors at the State department. Tillerson framed the mission in that country as to "never allow Afghanistan to become a platform for terrorism to operate from." Tillerson did not even mention a "peace process" or a political settlement. Instead, he said "this is really a question of what is the end state and how do we reach that end state."

Mattis, on the other hand, made it clear that he does not believe the Taliban would, or even could, be part of a democratically-elected government in Afghanistan: