Kabul, June 04: Hundreds of Afghan tribal elders and notables were set to make a formal call for peace with the Taliban on Friday, the final day of a traditional assembly that they said was a last chance to end a nine-year war.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai called the “peace jirga” to win national support for a peace plan consisting of offering an amnesty, cash and job incentives to Taliban foot soldiers while arranging asylum for top figures in a second country.
The participants, chosen to reflect Afghan tribes, politics and geography, had reached a broad consensus that there was no alternative to seeking peace with the Taliban since neither U.S.-led NATO forces nor the weak Afghan army could guarantee security to Afghans, organizers of the jirga said.
“The committees have finished their discussions and hopefully will be unified and later in the day a resolution on it will be announced for approval, Gul Agha Ahmadi, a spokesman for the jirga, said.
But there were few signs that the Taliban, who have grown into a powerful fighting force since their ouster from power in 2001 by U.S.-led forces, were ready to respond to the peace offer.
On Wednesday they attacked the opening of the jirga with rockets and gunfire just as Karzai was speaking inside a giant marquee in the west of the capital.
The Taliban want the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country before any negotiations can begin. The insurgency is at its most intense at the moment and analysts say there is little reason for them to sue for peace.
“Basically, every effort by the invading foreigners including the convening of the jirga which is now being carried out on the demand of and under the shadow of the foreign troops is, in fact, aimed at securing the interests of the foreigners,” the Taliban said in a statement on their website.
The United States plans to begin a troop pullout from July 2011 hoping to stabilize the country with a surge ordered by President Barack Obama in December. The additional troops deployed to Afghanistan are preparing for an operation in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar which military officials say may force them to reconsider their opposition to making peace.
Washington backs Karzai’s plan for trying to reintegrate Taliban foot soldiers back to the mainstream but is wary of any overtures to senior Taliban figures, some of whom including supreme leader Mullah Omar are on its most wanted list.
It would rather that the Taliban are put under pressure on the battlefield before reaching out to senior figures.
Some delegates are dressed in the same finery their ancestors would have worn two centuries ago, and sport the same style bushy beards.
In the fine Afghan tradition, discussions are largely civil affairs, with delegates in the 28 sub-committees between them drinking tens of thousands of cups of green tea taken with homegrown almonds.
Most of the men wear the traditional pajama-like shalwar kameez, and show their individuality, or tribal affiliation, with elaborate turbans, some shimmering with silk thread inlay.
Another change from the past is that a fifth of the delegates are women, all wearing scarves and some even make-up.
Such a brazen display in front of strangers would not have been tolerated under the Taliban.
—Agencies