Holbrooke Says US to Back Taliban Reintegration

By Gregory Katz, Associated Press Writer –

Wed Jan 27, 2010, 9:55 am ET

LONDON –

The United States said Wednesday that it will support a plan to reintegrate Taliban fighters set to be announced by Afghan President Hamid Karzai at an international conference in London.

U.S. special representative Richard Holbrooke said Karzai will outline the plan Thursday to convince low-level and midlevel Taliban fighters who don't back al-Qaida to give up their fight against U.S. and NATO forces.

The plan will be a centerpiece of the one-day London conference designed to boost the flagging war effort in Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO forces have been taking increasing casualties from (the Taliban resistance movement). The Taliban rejected the plan, saying in a statement posted to their Web site Wednesday that their fighters wouldn't be swayed by financial incentives because they were fighting not for "money, property and position" but for Islam and an end to the foreign military presence in their country.

Holbrooke said U.S. officials believed otherwise.

"The overwhelming majority of these people are not ideological supporters of Mullah Omar (the Taliban leader) and al-Qaida," Holbrooke said. "Based on interviews with prisoners, returnees, experts, there must be at least 70 percent of these people who are not fighting for anything to do with those causes."

The U.S. and others have been trying to convince those elements to lay down their arms — and on Wednesday the United Nations removed asset freezing orders and travel bans on five former Taliban officials, something Karzai had been pressing for as part of his effort to draw them back into the fold.

Holbrooke said he was encouraged by recent polls in Afghanistan indicating that a majority now blames the Taliban, not Western forces, for the country's violence.

On Tuesday German Chancellor Angela Merkel put the total cost of the program at $500 million over five years, but Holbrooke said it was too early to put a price tag to the fund.

"We don't know enough about the plan," he said.

Karzai said Wednesday that Afghanistan aims to reduce soon the burden on its allies of providing security, but cautioned that Afghan forces would need long-term international support.

Meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin, Karzai said that "Afghanistan does not want to be a burden on the shoulder of our allies and friends"

"Afghanistan wants to soon be defending its own territory, its own people, with Afghan means," he said.

Holbrooke said that Taliban who back al-Qaida, or support the group's harsh treatment of women, would not be accommodated.

He said there has been no discussion of an amnesty for Taliban fighters, saying the immediate goal is to convince them to stop fighting.

Holbrooke said the goals for the London conference go beyond the reconciliation plan and will include discussions of a province-by-province handover of security control from U.S. and NATO forces to Afghan forces. But he conceded no timetable will be announced, saying certain conditions would have to be met before the security transition could begin.

The Taliban accused the conference organizers of seeking to entrench their economic and culture presence in the region, adding that a string of previous international gatherings had failed to deliver despite the expenditure of "lots of money and time."

The British government announced Wednesday that Afghanistan's creditors have agreed to debt relief worth $1.6 billion ahead of the London conference.

Britain's Treasury said the decision will help Karzai's government to rebuild the country's fragile economy — which has now received debt relief worth a total of $11 billion, according to Afghan Finance Minister Omar Zakhilwal.

Meanwhile, NATO said it had reached agreement with Kazakhstan to open a new supply route for international forces through Central Asia, offering an alternative to the alliance's main logistics chain through Pakistan, which has come under repeated militant attack.

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Associated Press Writers Rahim Faiez in Kabul, Geir Moulson in Berlin and David Stringer in London contributed to this report.

 
US will fail to split Taliban: ex-ISI official

  Pak News International, Thursday, January 28, 2010  

* Brigadier (r) Sultan Amir Tarar says Taliban will not break with Mullah Omar, as he is ‘symbol of resistance’
* Taliban may accommodate international concerns on militancy, but won’t hand over old Al-Qaeda friends as a matter of principle

RAWALPINDI:

Attempts by the Afghan government and its allies to split the Taliban by luring away foot soldiers and isolating leaders will fail, former official of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), Brigadier (r) Sultan Amir Tarar said on Wednesday.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai is expected to present details of his plan to reach out to the Taliban at an international conference in London on Thursday.

But Tarar, who knows Taliban leaders, said Taliban fighters would not break with their leader, Mullah Omar.

Symbol: He said Omar was a “symbol of resistance” against US-led foreign forces in Afghanistan and any reconciliation plan would fail if he were excluded.

“He’s respected by Afghans for resisting foreign occupation. How can he be sidelined or dumped at a time when Taliban are winning the war?” he told Reuters in an interview in Rawalpindi

“No plan will work without him and anyone who ditches him would no longer be a Taliban,” said Tarar.

Commonly known as Colonel Imam, Tarar worked with the US Central Intelligence Agency during the US-backed jihad in Afghanistan against Soviet occupying forces in the 1980s.

He trained many mujahideen leaders, including Omar.

Tarar also served as Pakistani consul general in Herat in western Afghanistan during Taliban rule and only left the country in 2001 when Pakistan joined the US-led war against militancy.

But Tarar held out hope for talks with Taliban leaders, saying they were sensitive to international fears about the use of Afghan soil by militants. But he said they would never hand over old Al Qaeda friends as a matter of principle.

International concerns: “Taliban are wise people and they may accommodate international concerns on militancy but they will never compromise on their principles and positions,” he said.

Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is believed to be hiding with senior associates somewhere along the remote Afghanistan-Pakistan border.

Western powers backing Afghanistan are increasingly entertaining the possibility of compromise with Taliban leaders but they would insist the Taliban cease helping Al Qaeda.

Tarar said Omar held him in high esteem for his help for the Afghan jihad and used to stand up in respect when he visited.

But the country lost the trust of the Taliban after it withdrew support after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

The government is reaching out to all levels of the Taliban to encourage reconciliation, the Foreign Office said on Saturday. Tarar said he might be willing to help but had reservations.

“I and my colleagues can play any role to bring peace in Afghanistan. We will beg them but there is no guarantee that the Americans are sincere,” he said.

The Americans and their allies would never win, he said.

“You saw the fate of the Soviet Union. The Taliban have proved in the past nine years that they can defeat superior technology.” reuters