Vikram Singh and Nate Fick of the Center for a New American Security visited Afghanistan just before I did, went to many more places, and take to the New York Times to warn about the crisis of governmental illegitimacy. (Me too me too. Vikram was kind enough to talk to me for this piece.) In listing their suggestions for bolstering the legitimacy of the political process, they take a brave and important position:

Third, the Afghan government must negotiate with Taliban groups that have shown an honest willingness to renounce violence in exchange for a path back into the country’s political life. Most Afghans we spoke with drew a sharp distinction between Afghan Taliban and other groups opposing the government — Al Qaeda, Arab foreign fighters and members of the Pakistani Taliban. They view Afghan Taliban as “sons of Afghanistan” who deserve to be treated differently than their more extreme foreign counterparts.

This is increasingly the position of the Karzai government itself. Singh and Fick are good counterinsurgents, so they understand that cooptation is the way counterinsurgencies are typically won. Interestingly, at General McClellan’s McKiernan’s press conference last week, he declined to take a position on whether Karzai should cut a deal with the Taliban — saying, sensibly, that that’s not his call — but said that there were certain insurgents that he’d be rather unenthusiastic about seeing in government. Undoubtedly it’s a bitter pill to swallow — they’re the Taliban! But if anyone has a better idea for an Afghanistan endgame, I’d like to hear it.