Negotiating with people who use child suicide bombers

Do you think anyone should be negotiating with people who use children suicide bombers? Recently, President Obama opened dialogue with the Taliban who in the past have used child suicide bombers. Only recently in Afghanistan, an eight year old girl was drugged and kidnapped in a car and strapped with an explosive belt with the intention of making her a suicide bomber. But the girl had a lucky escape when the she was dropped off. She started screaming on the streets and was arrested by the police. This is the Taliban at its most monstrous. So, should anyone be negotiating with them? The Taliban is at war with the government of Afghanistan and the Taliban has got the international community in a deadlock over the issue of peace in Afghanistan. The American government is pulling out its troops from the streets of Afghanistan at a time that the Taliban forces are regrouping. It cost America billions of dollars to keep the peace in Afghanistan, and with the continuous loss of military life due to suicide bombers, the American government has decided to bring its troops home.

Firstly, there is the issue of ethical responsibility. It is ethically wrong and unbelievable that children as young as eight are being used to fight American soldiers. It is impossible to communicate and carry out diplomatic talks with people of this nature.  Dialogue in Afghanistan should have been carried out as early as 2001, if it were ever to be done.  But how would dialogue work if there are children who are being strapped with explosives and being sent to police check points. The solutions obviously lie with the government of Afghanistan. The government has to step in to stop the practice of using children to blow up police stations. The Taliban targets children and young boys from impoverished homes by making promises of money, education, jobs and food, if they become recruits in the insurgence against the international community. In Pakistan, there are training camps where young boys and recruits from Afghanistan are trained to become suicide bombers. In a recent event, a young child in Afghanistan, a boy, of about 6 years old was strapped with explosives and given instructions on what to do when he got to the American Army camp. The boy walked all the way to the camp and on his way forgot what the instructions were. When the American army got to him, they asked him what he was doing at the camp. The boy couldn’t explain himself and then lifted up his shirt to reveal the explosives. He said he had forgotten what he was supposed to do with the explosives. Many children are lured to camps in Pakistan by the Taliban with promises of money. When they get to the camps they are then brain washed and forced into becoming suicide bombers. These children, some of which have no parents, are being deprived of an education and a home. (http://www.stripes.com/news/taliban-recruiting-afghan-children-for-suicide-bombings-1.65854)

The Taliban has denied allegations that it recruits and uses children in suicide attacks. However, there is substantial evidence that this is not the case.