Why the White House Is Insisting the Taliban Isn't a Terrorist Group
The White House's stance on the Afghan Taliban opens up Democrats to more criticism.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - JANUARY 12: White House press secretary Josh Earnest speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, United States on January 12, 2015
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Why is the White House insisting that the Afghan Taliban isn't a terrorist organization when the Treasury Department currently designates it as such and the group engages in terror acts?
It's a question White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest tried, with some difficulty, to answer on Thursday, a day after White House spokesman Eric Schultz drew a distinction between the Taliban as an "armed insurgency" and the Islamic State as a straight-up "terrorist group." "We don’t make concessions to terrorist groups," Schultz said.