Unfortunately she is not being very well served by her staff. The Taliban have executed multiple complex attacks this year, all indicating that they have moved into Phase III of an insurgency. That happens when an insurgent feels they stand a good chance of obtaining their goals.
The linkage between AQ and the Taliban have been exposed as weak at best. AQ was allowed into Afghanistan because of a request for sanctuary under Pashtunwali. The IC has not figured that out yet since they have very little understanding of Afghanistan……
Hillary Clinton urges Taliban to reject al-Qaeda allies
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has warned Taliban fighters in Afghanistan that they face a stark choice between war and peace, as US military pressure on them mounts
Phi Beta Iota: This is sad. Even if she knows this is idiocy mouthed for domestic campaign contributor constituencies, it further reduces global estimates of US intelligence (zero) and US diplomacy (not). We hope President Barack Obama is giving deep thought to changing his entire Cabinet. State used to have a moderately intelligent INR that could overcome the total ignorance of the secret world, but evidently they have either lost their innate intelligence or lost their access to the Secretary.
