Will you accept a collect call from the Taliban?

From Reuters:

President George W. Bush began his first visit to South Asia on Wednesday with a surprise stop over in Afghanistan, where thousands of American troops are still engaged in hunting down the architects of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
...
The Taliban deputy leader and former defense minister Mullah Abdullah Akhund said on Wednesday that Bush's "secret visit" showed the Taliban had a strong control over Afghanistan.

"If the American president's visit had been announced in advance, the Taliban mujahideen would have greeted him with rockets and attacks. But Bush proved his cowardice by coming on a secret visit as a thief," he told Reuters by satellite telephone.

The most remarkable thing about this story is not that the American president made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. It's that a couple of Reuters reporters have the phone number for the Taliban. Maybe I'm just being naïve -- after all, this is the news network that refuses to use the word "terrorist" when describing suicide bombers.

I don't know where reporters Steve Holland and Sayed Salahuddin are based, but I hope the National Security Agency makes a point of tapping their phones, and aims a Cruise missile at Mr. Akhund the next time they speak.

(HT: HH)