Kabul, January 18: In a new effort to lure the Taliban, Afghan President Hamid Karzai is drafting a peace plan that features ‘economic incentives’ to join his government ranks.
“We have done some things in the past but we have not done enough,” Karzai’s spokesman Waheed Omar told reporters.
“We have not been able to provide proper security for those who join the government. We may have not been very good at providing them with economic opportunities, jobs and anything else anybody would want after reintegration.”
The spokesman said that the plan would offer ‘economic incentives’ for those laying down their arms.
“The scheme we are proposing this time is taking all those into consideration and learning from the past and trying to come up with a proper program where we have all the necessary ground to allow those joining the program to have a peaceful life.”
He said the plan would reach out militants from all ranks, from the political leaderships to fighters on the ground.
The plan, set to be unveiled by Karzai ahead of his departure to the London conference on January 28, comes at a very critical time for the West-backed leader, who suffered a new blow after most of his cabinet nominees were rejected for a second time by the parliament.
Taliban, ousted by the 2001 US invasion, has been launching a guerilla warfare against foreign troops and the West-backed Karzai government.
The Afghan group has rejected peace talks with the government until the withdrawal of the foreign troops from the country.
US Support
The proposed peace plan has drawn immediate support from the Obama administration, reported the Washington Post.
“There is a good plan… they have learnt from experience,” Richard Holbrooke, the US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said.
Holbrooke said he had discussed the plan with Karzai and it was better than previous efforts.
“Can’t be worse,” he added.
In past efforts to lure the Taliban, Karzai had promised amnesty to fighters laying down arms.
According to the UN, only 170 Taliban fighters had defected from to the government in 2009.
Holbrooke said the majority of people fighting with the Taliban are not supporters of the Afghan group.
“There are a lot of people out there fighting for the Taliban who have no ideological commitment to the principles, values or political movement led by Mullah Omar,” he said, referring to the Taliban leader.
“They’re not supporters of the ideology of al-Qaeda,” he said.
“(They fought) because they have been misled, or out of a personal miscarriage of justice, or a family member who was a victim of a civilian casualty incident.
“There is no vehicle for them to come in from the cold right now and it has to be recreated almost from the ground up,” he said.
“If you don’t, you give people only two choices kill or be killed.”
-Agencies