SWITZERLAND: Afghan and foreign politicians discuss new proposals to settle the country's growing instability

Record ID: 1539541

  • Title: SWITZERLAND: Afghan and foreign politicians discuss new proposals to settle the country's growing instability
  • Date: 30th January 2010
  • Summary: DAVOS, SWITZERLAND (JANUARY 29, 2010) (WEF POOL) PARTICIPANTS IN AFGHANISTAN DEBATE SITTING ON STAGE IN CONGRESS HALL AFGHAN OPPOSITION LEADER ABDULLAH ABDULLAH LISTENING IN AUDIENCE TO MILIBAND TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY DAVID MILIBAND, SAYING: "Now we have together bequeathed the system to the Afghans where every potential governorship depends on presidential appointment, we have created in a highly de-centralised society, a highly centralised and top down system and that is one of the frictions in the system but I think for it to work the role of a number of players, including those in the government but not confined to those in the government, is absolutely essential." MEMBERS OF AUDIENCE LISTENING
  • Embargoed: 15th February 2010 10:23
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA4OO6SDLE4HUZRNNCIECDKN825
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: As Afghanistan increasingly struggles to regain stability after a surge in Taliban activity across the country and neighbouring Pakistan, politicians met on Friday (January 29) in the Swiss resort of Davos to discuss ways of making progress.
    Britain's Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski attended the session, whilst their French and German counterparts who were scheduled in were unable to attend.
    On Thursday (January 28), at a major conference on Afghanistan in London, Karzai set the framework for dialogue with Taliban leaders when he called on the Islamist group's leadership to take part in a "loya jirga" -- or large assembly of elders -- to initiate peace talks.
    The call came as Western powers Western powers involved in the Afghanistan conflict engaged in a diplomatic push to make hard plans that would pave the way for them to begin withdrawing their troops.
    Under Karzai's proposal, the West would not be directly involved in peace talks. A separate plan backed by Washington and its allies would set up a fund to reintegrate Taliban fighters by luring them away from the insurgency with jobs and cash.
    A Taliban spokesman in Afghanistan declined to talk in detail about Karzai's plans and only said the militants would make a decision "soon" about his offer.
    Miliband told the gathering that Kabul needed to ease its hold and allow for greater flexibility with local governments.
    "Now we have together bequeathed the system to the Afghans where every potential governorship depends on presidential appointment, we have created in a highly de-centralised society, a highly centralised and top down system and that is one of the frictions in the system but I think for it to work the role of a number of players, including those in the government but not confined to those in the government, is absolutely essential," he said.
    Miliband said it was essential to have incentives on a civilian level as well as a strong military presence to try and convince the Taliban to lay down its arms.
    "Well no one's talking about bribing our way out of the insurgency, what we are talking about is the Afghan government having the proper resources and infrastructure to support a redevelopment programme, and for those members of the insurgency who are currently fighting against their communities, we want them in their communities respecting the Afghan constitution, and that will take resources, properly administered. So I think that's an important part of the equation, but it's absolutely clear that it's the combination of military effect and civilian effect that makes possible a political settlement, and that's what we're trying to achieve," he added.
    A similar strategy in Iraq which saw the U.S. military and Iraqi government pay former insurgents in Sunni Arab areas to fight al Qaeda and their allies saw a dramatic fall in violence in the country.
    Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said the proposal to talk to the Taliban was a positive step forward.
    "I think the conference was extremely well organised and very useful, we have set up a new strategy to compliment the military surge decided on by NATO, and I think that we now have something that is credible, mainly a civilian developmental surge for two years to prepare Afghans for the transition to self-governance," he said.
    In the country's south, suicide attackers launched an assault in the capital of Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province, with gunmen holed up in three buildings, battling government and NATO troops who returned fire with helicopter strikes.
    When the fighting stopped before dusk a Reuters reporter at the scene saw the bullet-riddled bodies of four gunmen dragged out of a building by Afghan troops and displayed in the street. Two of the dead gunmen wore police uniforms.
    The Taliban have said repeatedly that negotiations with the Afghan government can only take place when foreign troops completely withdraw from Afghanistan and have dismissed the reintegration plans as a "trick".
    A big Pashtun tribe in east Afghanistan, the Shinwari, meanwhile, announced it would help the Afghan government in its efforts to fight the Taliban in return for construction projects for the community.
    Karzai's endorsement of talks in London does not represent a change of policy: he announced last year he planned to invite Taliban leaders to the peace conference, and has repeatedly emphasized his hope they would join talks.
    Previous contacts between the government and Taliban representatives have made little progress, and many regional experts say the Taliban are unlikely to offer concessions while they feel they are winning the war.
    Some 110,000 troops are in Afghanistan, including 70,000 Americans who will begin withdrawing in July 2011, struggling to turn the tide on an insurgency which killed record numbers of civilians and foreign troops in 2009.
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