US wants Taliban talks

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London meeting seeks ways to win Afghan war after 8-year slog


By Deb Riechmann And Gregory Katz (CP)


LONDON — Will one more international conference help western forces regain the upper hand in the desperate battle for Afghanistan?

That is the hope of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and 60 foreign ministers gathering in London on Thursday to look for ways to turn around the faltering war effort and speed the snail-paced reconstruction program.

"The conference will be a major opportunity for Afghanistan to explain to the rest of the world our plans for reconciliation and reintegration," Karzai said in Turkey on Tuesday. "Afghanistan is in the frontline of the war on terror. The Afghan people are giving daily sacrifices in this struggle."

The conference will see the unveiling of an ambitious plan to sap the Taliban insurgency by convincing some of its lower and mid-level fighters to lay down their weapons in exchange for money, job training and other financial incentives.

The long range goal is to create order from chaos: to transform Afghanistan into a relatively stable country with a functioning, credible government and no camps or canyons where al-Qaida's fugitive leaders can hide and plot.

The likelihood of immediate success: next to nil. Even if things work out, it will take several years at least for poorly paid and loosely trained Afghan security forces and police to be ready to take control of their battered country, bled dry by on-and-off warfare for the past three decades.

No one pretends the war is going well: casualties are up, public support in coalition countries is down, and ever-bolder Taliban rebels have successfully attacked the centre of Kabul, power base of the feeble central government led by Karzai. Al-Qaida leaders, on the run for eight years, have regrouped, their tentacles grasping beyond their base near the Pakistan-Afghan border.

The conflict is at a crossroads, with America and its NATO allies sending 37,000 more troops in a bid to blunt the Taliban's momentum as the Afghan government seeks financial help with ambitious plans to "Afghanize" the conflict by taking over security duties in the next five years.

The reconstruction effort is getting a boost as well. NATO Tuesday named Mark Sedwill, who was Britain's ambassador to Kabul, to be its new civilian representative in Afghanistan. He will be charged with administering reconstruction projects and act as a civilian counterpart to the military commander, U.S. Gen. Stanley McChrystal.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced plans to boost its troop strength, in order to provide more training for Afghan forces, and to nearly double Germany's reconstruction aid to Afghanistan, increasing it from $310 million to $605 million per year.

Despite gloomy reports from the battlefield, there are glimmers of hope - with polls showing most Afghans now blame the Taliban, not western forces, for the bloodshed and instability, a reversal from just a year earlier.

Still, it is not clear if the plan to persuade Taliban fighters who are not linked to al-Qaida to give up their weapons and join the political process - a centrepiece of the conference agenda - will be successful even if participants make money available. Taliban leaders say the plan is doomed.

The Afghan government plans to offer jobs, vocational training and other financial incentives to Taliban soldiers willing to switch sides. The goal is to reach out to 20,000 to 35,000 insurgents - but skeptics doubt whether large numbers would desert at a time when many insurgents believe they are winning.

Some militants believe they can outlast western forces, which may be called home due to budgetary restraints and ebbing public enthusiasm for the mission. President Barack Obama says he plans to start withdrawing some U.S. troops by July, 2011.

The conference is also expected to endorse a new timetable for expanding Afghan security forces and giving them control of various parts of the country as part of a plan to reduce western troop levels by the middle of next year if possible.

The diplomats will also discuss ways to channel more international aid directly through Afghan ministries while, at the same time, working to curb systematic graft and bribery inside the government.

The conference, which may name a top civilian co-ordinator for Afghanistan, is also designed at least in part to bolster two leaders in trouble.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, facing a difficult election campaign, hopes to bolster his leadership credentials, and Karzai - damaged by electoral fraud and unable to win parliamentary backing for his cabinet choices - plans to demonstrate that his government still has strong international support.

There are some reasons for confidence even though the numbers of soldiers killed in roadside attacks has steadily increased in the last 12 months.

Analysts believe the troop surge ordered by Obama and new tactics aimed at winning over ordinary Afghans pushed by McChrystal, the top commander in Afghanistan, may blunt the Taliban's recent gains.

Michael Codner, director of the Military Sciences Department at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said the additional troops may convince on-the-fence Afghans not to back the Taliban.

"It is quite likely the surge could bring a tipping point in the right direction rather than having it muddle along forever," he said. "The situation before looked pretty feeble and doomed."

Codner said the number of troops being added is adequate for the task they face.

He cautioned that public support for the war, at least in Britain, has dropped because there is little confidence in Brown's assertion that the fighting will help protect British towns and cities from al-Qaida attacks.

"There's a great deal of skepticism," Codner said. "That's because the mission is not clear. The government is saying it is direct security, that al-Qaida will set up there again if we don't do this, but unfortunately the public feels if we do these operations, we'll get an asymmetric attack at home, as in the July 7 bombings."

He was referring to the July 7, 2005 attacks on the London transit system that killed 52 people. The co-ordinated bombings by radicalized British Muslims were blamed by some on Britain's involvement in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Canadian Press: London meeting seeks ways to win Afghan war after 8-year slog

 

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:. The Upcoming London Conference

In early 1990s, a British General, Andrew Skeen wrote a guide to military operations in Afghanistan. His first piece of advice was, “When planning a military expedition in Pashtun areas, the first thing you must plan is your retreat. All expeditions into this area sooner or later end in retreat under fire.” In the later half of 2009, president of United States of America commented that, "What we can't do is think that just a military approach in Afghanistan is going to solve our problems......There's got to be an exit strategy." Thus, It took the super power nineteen years to figure out what the English ascertained so much earlier.

After invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, Americans announced the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reconstruction (DDR) program which was aimed at encouraging former warlords and gunmen to surrender their arms for cash incentives, employment opportunities and vocational training. After a time, they left the program uncompleted, and opted to raise their own militias under the name of Campaign and Security Guards. These so-called security guards escort American and other NATO member countries military and logistical convoys from one province to another, particularly to Uruzgan, Helmand, Farah and other provinces in the south. Some militias are used to detain suspected Afghans. Recently, New York Times disclosed that following the American invasion of Afghanistan, Wali Karzai created the Kandahar Task Force which is involved in various human rights violations. According to the Times Weekly, Wali Karzai frequently used the Kandahar Task Force against his opponents and on one occasion, they killed police chief of Kandahar province. Similarly, Americans pay tens of millions of dollars to private militia annually for escorting their convoys. The private militias extort money from common people and levy agricultural tax on farmers named Ushar. They are involved in burglary, kidnapping and other unscrupulous activities. All these are overlooked by the invaders as the militia supports them in their fight against so-called terrorism. Applying The Sons of Iraq replica to Afghanistan, the invading Americans have created militia from among the Afghan minorities in the north of the country. Recently, they created such militia in Qazal Qila and appointed a Turkmen as commander. The Turkmen and Uzbek are ethnical minorities and their militias are notoriously known for human rights violations during the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. And now finally on January 28, representatives of no less than 43 countries from around the world will fly to London for an international conference on Afghanistan. The contradicting programs and policies being adopted and then followed by the Americans and its allied forces are greatly contributing to the chaos and corruption now rampant in Afghanistan.

According to the western world, the international conference on Afghanistan in London will provide an important opportunity for the U.S. and other nations to galvanize support for Afghanistan. But what I fail to understand is that what the allied forces as well as America could not solve in eight years, how they can achieve the needful through one international conference. Under the garb of reaching a solution on Afghanistan, America along with India is playing another great game and the target or must I say the victim appears to be Pakistan once again.

The great game hypothesis behind the International Conference on London with special reference to Pakistan may be three pronged. To begin with, after more than 5000 allied forces causalities in Afghanistan, there is arising difference of opinion and discontent among the allied forces. There is great pressure being built up on America for an early withdrawal to control the causalities which are surging strong public reactions in the host countries. To control the discontentment rising among the coalition partners, President Obama came up with the new strategy of Exit and training afghan forces. However, to the European countries particularly, UK, France and Germany, President Obama's declared date for drawing down U.S. forces is the kind of deadline that President Clinton repeatedly imposed on the U.S. military mission in Bosnia in the mid-to-late 1990s to reassure Congress that he had an "exit strategy" . Thus to supress the public reaction and to reassure themselves of the hard reality that they have badly failed in Afghanistan as did Russia once, the poor western world is desparatly looking for oppertunities to save themselves of the embarrasment. In simple words, they are looking for ways and means to escape from aAfghnaistan. Secondly, this conference is mostly conevened to build up pressure on Pakistan that they are not doing enough to control the menace of terrorism. As British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, on 21 Jan 2010 testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that the heads of Taliban are hiding in North Waziristan province of Pakistan. By mounting such pressures of “Do More”, they will finally demand Islamabad to launch operation in North Waziristan as they did when Pakistan Army successfully completed its operation in Swat, they asked for Operation in South Waziristan. It seems that America should provide Pakistan with a wish list to fulfill for once and for all so that they are left with no more complaints. Last but not the least, through this conference; the western world can attempt to increase the influence of India in the region which is again a big threat to Pakistan. Regarding the training of Afghan Force, K. Subrahmanyam, the dean of India's strategic community, asks in Indian Express how the United States can possibly hope to train sufficient Afghan security forces to begin drawing down in only 18 months. After reading between the lines, it becomes evident upon fact that how much keen and tempted Indian government is that Washington may look to New Delhi, which has vital equities in preventing the return of the Taliban by strengthening the Afghan state and to help train and equip Afghan security forces, just as India has been training Afghan civil servants, building roads, schools, hospitals, and other infrastructure as the country's fourth-largest bilateral donor. Thus, by inviting india for assistance in training of Afghan army, they are leaving the door open for the Indians to do what they are itching to do.

Inshort, how considerate of America that assuming the links between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban and the resulting spread of violent extremism in Pakistan's heartland, at the end of the day a Talibanized Afghanistan would destabilize and endanger Pakistani security more than would a minimal Indian security presence thus simply ignoring the pakistani paranoia about encirclement by the Indian adversary. On one hand, the west are assuring pakistan about its inevitability for peace while on the other, they are leaving no stone unturned to make paksitan irrelevant in regional security paradigm. The solution to Afghanistan issue doesnot lye in any such confrence rather it hinges upon the sincerity of purpose by the concerned governments. The Government of pakistan instead of being a centre of a blame game should take a firm stand and tell the western world that we have and still are playing our due role in the war against terrorism and that the west should realize the sacrifces of pakistan government, people and the Army. After all GwoT is America’s main concern and Pakistan is just helping and assisting the allied forces. During the London Conference, pakistan instaed of entertaining the wish list of the west should convince the coalition forces of their apprehensions of not linking the problems of Afghanistan and Pakistan together. Moreover, we should clearly notify the participants about our sensitivities regarding India. Its about time that we should put our foot down and enlighten the world that we are a sovereign state which needs not to be dictated like Afghanistan.

Kashmir Watch :: In-depth coverage on Kashmir conflict

 

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Karzai meets neighbours ahead of key London conference

Istanbul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai met officials from Pakistan and other neighbouring nations here on Tuesday, amid efforts for a strategy to cajole insurgents into laying down arms.

The Ankara meeting, also attended by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband, preceded a major conference in London on Thursday, where Karzai hopes to win Western support for a plan to offer money and jobs to Taliban fighters to encourage them to quit insurgency.


Turkish President Abdullah Gul hosted the gathering, attended by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and senior officials from Iran, China, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan and observers from the United States, Russia and international organisations.

The participants were expected to issue a joint declaration after the talks.

Turkey, NATO's sole Muslim-majority member and a partner in the multi-national force in Afghanistan, is keen to drum up regional support for Karzai.

Ankara is stressing the need to step up efforts to also help in Afghanistan's social and economic development.

"There cannot be a more important strategy than winning the minds and hearts of the Afghan people," a Turkish government official said ahead of the meeting.

"Sometimes drilling a simple water well, for instance, can be more valuable in the eyes of the people than a costly project," he said.

Karzai meets neighbours ahead of key London conference

 

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Conference supports Afghan-led reconciliation in Afghanistan

By Farooq Ahmad
ISTANBUL, JAN. 26, APP—International community on Tuesday supported process of reconciliation in Afghanistan but observed that no neighbouring country is immune from the situation in that conflict-ridden country.This was stated in a joint statement issued on the conclusion of a Regional Summit of Afghanistan and its six neighbouring countries with observers from a number of countries including British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also present on the occasion.
The conference “supports the Afghan national process of reconciliation and reintegration in accordance with the consitution of Afghanistan in a way that is Afghan led and driven”, the participants said in the joint statement.
“They, however, “recognised the inter-connected nature of the challenges Afghanistan is facing and the fact no neighbouring country is immune from them”, it said.
The summit, also called the “Istanbul summit on Frienship and Cooperation in the Heart of Asia”, was attended by President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Turkish President Abdullah Gul, and officials of other neighbouring countries of Afghanistan besides the observers from European countries, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Russian Federation, USA etc.
The summiteers reiterated their commitment to coninued support for the government and the people of Afghanistan as they develop their country, reconstruct their economy and further impropve their humand capital.
The conference was devoted to finding ways and means to contain the spillover of conflict in Afghanistan across its borders It came a few days before the London Conference on Afghanistan also provided a useful forum for gathering input for the London moot.
British Foreign Secrtary Miliband said in an internview with APP international community was helping Pakistan in finding a solution to the Afghan problem and to bounce back from the damage to its economy from the war on terror.
Next friends of democratic Pakistan meeting, he said, “we will look into what more help we could extend to Pakistan”.

Conference supports Afghan-led reconciliation in Afghanistan

 

[Gazzi]

You seemed to have quickly ducked and launched into who I support. I support the PA, unquestioned. owever, if I came to your home is raped your women and killed your family members, and like many killed entire families, what would your response be Unity Sir.

Why should one foreign country be different from another one in Afghanistan? they are all foreigners for Afghans. America, Pakistan etc are all the same. That is my point, if you dont get it then dont.


The US cannot just think it can start a war when it likes and end it when it likes, hence the Taliban dont give too sh!ts what the US wants. The more US troops the merrier for them and they have more to kill when the time is right.

Who give a damn about the US? they are as forigners as Pakistanis in Afghanistan. The Taliban might kill a few americans here and there, but the only and real victim is Afghanistan and Afghans, thats what Pakistan have always wanted, a week and broken Afghanistan to be used in their proxy war.

With regards to your comment about PA roaming freely, well the us is doing the same as are other countries. PA will always want a Government in power who is more closer to them, just like any other country would, especially when countries like India are involved. And why shouldn't it.

OK, then why do you blame the Americans and the Indians? This is my whole point that you confirmed. What we see in Afghanistan is nothing but a proxy war between all of these countries and Afghans are the only ones who are seeing their blood spilt and their country going down and down every day. Why should an Afghan cheer for a proxy war that benefit the others except the Afghans.

I do however sincerely hope the Pakistan Government comes now to its senses and sends back all the Afghan refugees who have overstayed their refugee status welcome and mine the entire border with Afghanistan if there is not a change in the Afghan Governments attitude and close all supply routes to its ports. They can do business elsewhere

I doubt they will do that.

You seriously need to understand what you are talking about and stick to the topic.

You have put in your earlier post

Seeking peace deal with the Taliban is not something new. it is an option and it should be. If the matter can be solved with dialogue then why not, and if the Taliban choose to live like human being rather killing their own people then it should be wellcomed.

I responded the fact that if you deem the Taliban to not be human being after they have seen their women rao7ped, children killed and men and families murdered. But that doesn;t seem to mean anything to you and when the question is put to you as follows:

Would love to see your country invaded by a foreign army and then families looted and women raped and members of family killed and then ask you if you to live like a human being and negotiate with them.

You decided to go into duck mode and jump into the Taliban been Pakistan naukar and

Not that the Northern Alliance were any better, but nonethtless, are still Afghan, so when you say Taliban, like it or not, they are Afghan, if you don;t agree then thats your problem.

The Taliban has seem families massacred, I don;t see any reason why these people will want to give up fighting, why should they. And if the US returns back to the US, why should the Taliban not actively seek to bomb the US itself. Unlike the past, when AQ used to do it alone, the Taliban may participate wholeheartedly now as their civilians have been killed. This is war, and they have taken casualties. The US does not dictate when it can start and stop a War/Genocide