Top Taliban leaders could be offered exile outside Afghanistan if they agree to stop fighting the government of Hamid Karzai, a long-expected peace plan by the Afghan government will propose later this month.
The far-reaching proposals, seen by the Guardian, also call for “deradicalization” classes for insurgents and thousands of new manual jobs created for foot soldiers who renounce violence.
The long-delayed Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program has emerged just as Karzai prepares to go to Washington for talks with US President Barack Obama, where the issue is likely to be top of the agenda.
The plan will then be presented later in the month to a gathering of representatives from across Afghanistan called the National Consultative Peace Jirga. Once agreed upon, the government will be able to start spending about US$160 million pledged by the international community to lure fighters away from the conflict. The document refers to such fighters as “angry brothers,” reflecting the belief that a substantial portion of insurgents are not motivated by strong ideological beliefs.
Little is said in the report about the Taliban leaders managing the war against Karzai’s government. However, it does say insurgent leaders could face “potential exile in a third country.”
Saudi Arabia has been used in the past for such purposes, and there has been widespread speculation that exile could be offered to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hizb-e-Islami armed group, which in March sent a peace delegation to Kabul for talks with Karzai.
Western powers are likely to be pleased by the level of detail about the new High Level Peace Council, which will take over from a notoriously chaotic predecessor body accused of reintegrating fighters who subsequently took up arms again.
However, diplomats are worried that the government lacks the capacity to implement a program that calls for complex activities in about 4,000 villages most affected by the insurgency.
One diplomat said: “For the international community, money is not a problem, they will pay whatever it takes. One gets a sense that there are people on the military side who will do most of the work and then give it some sort of an Afghan face.”
The High Council and its executive body will be in charge of processing fighters who want to live peacefully. They will initially be put in “demobilization centers” for a “cooling off” period of 90 days where their needs can be assessed and their personal security assured.
If they agree to lay down their arms and cut ties with al-Qaeda, they will be entitled to an amnesty against prosecution for any crimes they may have committed. They will also be issued with a biometric “reintegration card.” They will then be offered a “menu” of options designed to keep them peacefully occupied, including vocational training in such trades as carpet-weaving and tailoring.
There will also be the option to go through “deradicalization” training, of the sort pioneered by Saudi Arabia. However, the report acknowledged the complexity of such programs, the lack of “adequate experience” in Afghanistan and the likely need to send “highly radicalized” people to other countries for treatment.
Major new institutions will also be set up to manage enormous job-creation schemes. An Engineering and Construction Corps will focus on labor-intensive work, such as the construction of Afghanistan’s national highway system and other large-scale infrastructure projects. It also envisages teams of former Taliban fighters being rapidly deployed to respond to emergencies such as floods and landslides. By far the most controversial option is the option for former insurgents to join the Afghan army or police force.
Western embassies and NATO have for months been impatient for the government to produce a reintegration strategy, which is an important part of the counterinsurgency plan being pursued by Stanley McChrystal, the US commander of NATO forces in Afghanistan.
On the other hand, it has been widely reported that Karzai is frustrated at US opposition to high-level peace talks with insurgent leaders.
However, both US and Afghan officials say there is only disagreement on the timing of the talks and, to the frustration of the UK, which wants to see a high-level political accommodation with the Taliban, both sides are determined that there should be no significant compromise.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese