Key words: Afghanistan, Pakistan, United States, terrorism, Afghan Taliban, Pak Taliban, moderate Taliban, NATO-ISAF, tribal chiefs, Pashtuns

Talking to the Taliban, while high-minded in principle, is over-idealistic in reality. There are several problems and too many nuances that need to be addressed before such an idea can even be considered. If however, for simplicity’s sake, we were to mull over such a proposal, several questions need to be answered including the following:

Talking to Whom?
Talking about What?
Who should be involved?