When I heard that the Obama administration was considering a dramatic shift of declaring that the Taliban were no longer considered a direct threat to the United States — even though they are attacking and killing American troops — I was reminded of how this country perceived the Taliban back in the 1990s. Then I remembered a really awesome book that recalled State Department staffers talking about Taliban members’ “great sense of humor” and an assistant secretary of state mentioning how the Taliban was made up of “intellgentsia and former civil servants,” and the book’s whole theme that Democratic administrations couldn’t be trusted to protect the American people because they always underestimated the threat from hostile groups abroad.

Well, it’s good to see that the Democrats have learned their lessons and have changed from the previous decade’s foolishness.

Oh, wait:

As the Obama administration reconsiders its Afghanistan policy, White House officials are minimizing warnings from the intelligence community, the military and the State Department about the risks of adopting a limited strategy focused on al Qaida, U.S. intelligence, diplomatic and military officials told McClatchy.
Recent U.S. intelligence assessments have found that the Taliban and other Pakistan-based groups that are fighting U.S.-led forces have much closer ties to al Qaida now than they did before 9/11, would allow the terrorist network to re-establish bases in Afghanistan and would help Osama bin Laden export his radical brand of Islam to Afghanistan’s neighbors and beyond, the officials said.

Here we go again.