Kabul, January 23: Afghan President Hamid Karzai unveiled an ambitious Western-funded plan Friday to offer money and jobs to tempt Taleban fighters to lay down their arms and return to civilian life.
His comments in an interview with the BBC came as US Defense Secretary Robert Gates described the Taleban as part of Afghanistan’s “political fabric” but said any future role would depend on insurgents laying down their weapons.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also unveiled a long-term nonmilitary strategy to stabilize Afghanistan and Pakistan that calls for sending in more civilian experts and bringing extremists back into mainstream society.
The Taleban militia and other insurgent groups have been waging an increasingly deadly rebellion against the Afghan government and foreign troops since a US-led invasion ousted the Taleban regime from power in late 2001.
“We know as the Afghan people we must have peace at any cost,” Karzai said in the television interview aired Friday ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan in London next week. “Those that we approach to return will be provided with the abilities to work, to find jobs, to have protection, to resettle in their own communities.”
Hard-line Taleban supporters, who were members of Al-Qaeda or other terror groups, would not be accepted, Karzai said, adding that he expected the plan to be announced at the London conference on Thursday.
The Taleban give their volunteers higher salaries than the Afghan government can afford to pay its forces, and the president said his project would have international backing to provide the necessary funds.
The Taleban leadership have repeatedly rebuffed peace talks in the past, while spokesmen for another top insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also said he would not come to the table unless strict conditions were met.
“We want a free and independent Afghanistan. We are ready for positive negotiations which can bring results and peace in our country,” spokesman Waliullah told AFP on Friday.
But another spokesman for the warlord, Zubair Sediqi, said that before peace talks were held, “all the foreign forces must leave Afghanistan unconditionally (and) a permanent cease-fire must be enforced.”
Karzai has faced severe criticism from Western powers over the fraud-tainted August election that returned him to power, but said his position could be strengthened by increased resources.
“My presidency is weak in regard to the means of power, which means money, which means equipment, which means manpower, which means capacity,” he said.
Karzai sounded an optimistic note about the war-ravaged country’s future, predicting that in five years Afghanistan could be in control of its own security and the fight against corruption and drugs.
In another development, Afghanistan on Friday banned the use of a fertilizer chemical also used to make bombs, giving farmers and other holders a month to turn in their supplies.
Karzai’s office issued a decree banning the use, production, storage, purchase or sale of ammonium nitrate and giving Afghans 30 days to turn in any supplies to authorities. The decision was made after an investigation showed that militants had used the chemical in a series of bombings, according to a statement.
NATO-led forces already have been confiscating the chemical compound, urging farmers to use fertilizer containing urea nitrate instead.
Ammonium nitrate fertilizer has been used to make about 95 percent of the bombs in Afghanistan, according to the military think tank Globalsecurity.org.
The government also ordered training for police and border customs house workers to detect the chemical. It warned violators who fail to turn in supplies of ammonium nitrate will face court action.
——-Agencies