Cain makes new foreign policy gaffe

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain has made another made another foreign policy gaffe, suggesting the Taliban play a role in Libya

Published: 1:07am, 19th November 2011
Updated: 10:07am, 19th November 2011

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain suggested that the Taliban were playing a role in Libya's new government, adding another foreign policy mis-step to his stumbling campaign.

The week opened with Mr Cain struggling to answer whether he supported President Barack Obama's foreign policy in Libya.

He ended his week trying to blame reporters for the moment, which was captured on video and quickly spread around the internet.

Mr Cain's critics seized on Monday's incoherent answer as the latest evidence that the former pizza executive is unprepared to be the party's nominee.

Then Mr Cain gave his critics another foreign policy error on video.

"Do I agree with siding with the opposition? Do I agree with saying that (Libyan leader Muammar) Gaddafi should go? Do I agree that they now have a country where you've got Taliban and al Qaida that's going to be part of the government?" Mr Cain asked reporters in Orlando.

"Do I agree with not knowing the government was going to - which part was he asking me about? I was trying to get him to be specific and he wouldn't be specific."

The United States invaded Afghanistan to overthrow the al Qaida-harbouring Taliban after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The Taliban were ousted from power in Afghanistan and are now scattered in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

There is no evidence the Taliban are rising to power in Libya, a continent away.

Islamic extremists in Libya, however, could play a role in the new government. US officials are concerned that the former insurgents who have renounced extremism may have ties to al Qaida leadership.