CIA director holds talks with Taliban, we are retracing history now

It would be a dereliction of duty if he does not talk to them. For now it’s about a limited mission: evacuate everyone who should be evacuated safely. The only way to do it without an all out war, is by coordinating with the Taliban.

However unpalatable it is, it may well be a good, or least-worst, outcome for all concerned.

The Taliban is desperately cruel, selfish and petty; but really only interested in its own country.

ISIS is far more brutal, seems far more viciously sectarian, and wants to spread its power as widely as it can. It dreams of its own version of Hitler's Third Reich or Stalin's USSR-empire, and of very similar mind despite the three ideologies being so different.

Wheter ISIS can be defeated is a very different matter. They might be kept in check but though groups like that have definite founders, leaders and local militias, they are like-minded geurillas spread over many countries.