The best way for the U.S. to deal with the Taliban? Carefully and mostly invisibly.

Some of the CIA’s most successful operations have involved covert liaison with militant groups, such as the PLO in the 1970s, a relationship I described in my 1987 novel, “Agents of Innocence.” More recently, the CIA has worked closely with the intelligence services of Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, and the Kurdish fighters in Syria and Iraq to combat terrorism. In dealing with the Taliban going forward, our relationships with Pakistan, Qatar and Turkey will be especially important.