Pentagon's war pitch belied by Taliban-Qaida conflict

U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen argued in Senate Testimony Wednesday that the 30,000-troop increase is necessary to prevent the Taliban from giving new safe havens to al-Qaida terrorists. But that argument is flatly contradicted by the evidence of fundamental conflicts between the interests of the Taliban and those of al-Qaida that has emerged in recent years, according to counterterrorism and intelligence analysts specializing in Afghanistan.