www.alphadictionary.com

Conciliate:

verb (used with object)
1. to overcome the distrust or hostility of; placate; win over: to conciliate an angry competitor.
2. to win or gain (goodwill, regard, or favor).
3. to make compatible; reconcile.
–verb (used without object)
4. to become agreeable or reconciled: Efforts to conciliate in the dispute proved fruitless.
Origin:
1540–50; < L conciliātus (ptp. of conciliāre to bring together, unite, equiv. to concili(um) council + -ātus -ate

Reconcile:

verb (used with object)
1. to cause (a person) to accept or be resigned to something not desired: He was reconciled to his fate.
2. to win over to friendliness; cause to become amicable: to reconcile hostile persons.
3. to compose or settle (a quarrel, dispute, etc.).
4. to bring into agreement or harmony; make compatible or consistent: to reconcile differing statements; to reconcile accounts.
5. to reconsecrate (a desecrated church, cemetery, etc.).
6. to restore (an excommunicate or penitent) to communion in a church.
–verb (used without object)
7. to become reconciled.
Origin:
1300–50; ME reconcilen < L reconciliāre to make good again, repair.

Reading the recent reports that Obama seeks to reconcile with the moderate elements of the Taleban made me wonder: How can we "re" when we haven't done the original bit first?

(Both quotes from dictionary.com)

... Reading the recent reports that Obama seeks to reconcile with the moderate elements of the Taleban made me wonder: How can we "re" when we haven't done the original bit first?

There are moderate elements of the Taliban? I thought that "Taliban moderate" was an oxymoron, that de facto they still dwell in the 7th century, when men were men and women were, well, certainly not the equal of men. The Taliban make the Sunni Wahhabis and the Iranian Shi'a seem like moderates by comparison. Even Holy Mother Church stopped burning heretics at the stake long ago, and has even taken a stance against the death penalty.

I have to agree; we were never "conciled" in the first place, and most likely will never be, given that if they spoke Latin instead of Pashto, their motto would be aut vincere aut mori (either to conquer or to die)

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