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| Afghanistan |
| Afghanistan to offer Taliban leaders exile for peace: report |
| 2010-05-06 |
| AFGHANISTAN is proposing to offer top Taliban leaders exile if they agree to stop fighting against the government under a peace deal being drawn up, The Guardian reported. The proposal is part of a radical Peace and Reintegration Programme to be presented to tribal leaders at a peace conference or "jirga" of tribal and political leaders from around Afghanistan later this month, The Guardian said. The plan is expected to top the agenda when President Hamid Karzai holds talks with US President Barack Obama in Washington on May 12, a meeting the Afghan leader's spokesman this week described as as "extremely important." The document seen by The Guardian says insurgent leaders could face ``potential exile in a third country'', the report said, adding that Saudi Arabia has been used in the past for such purposes. It also calls for "deradicalisation" classes to be set up for insurgents and thousands of new manual jobs to be created for foot soldiers who renounce violence, the report said. Under the plan, former fighters who agreed to lay down their arms would be given an amnesty against prosecution for any crimes they may have committed and offered vocational training in such trades as carpet-weaving and tailoring. Karzai has long been keen to hold talks with top Taliban leaders in an effort to quell a crippling and increasingly deadly insurgency against his Western-backed government. Earlier this year, he secured Western funding for a plan to offer money and jobs to tempt Taliban fighters to lay down their arms. Karzai will leave for Washington on Sunday to meet Obama, who has ordered thousands more troops into Afghanistan as part of a new drive to fight the Taliban and bring a swift end to a nearly nine-year war. The meeting is seen as key ahead of a major offensive against militants in the southern province of Kandahar, considered the key battleground to reverse nearly nine years of escalating conflict in Afghanistan. It will be the first meeting between the two leaders since Karzai's claimed that the election which returned him to power in 2009 was manipulated by foreign governments, an outburst that caused a damaging rift with Washington. Both sides have been keen to put the row behind them, with unity between the Afghan government and its international backers seen as essential ahead of the push and the peace conference. |
| Posted by:tipper |
| #6 Looking at President Bush's official declarations made immediately after 9/11 ("We make no distinctions between terrorists and those who shelter them", "The Taliban will hand over the terrorists or share in their fate") this is nothing but an abject and very dangerous western surrender. Precipitous withdrawal and subsequent chaos, ruin and devastation in Afghanistan would not do as much damage, as we would not officially give our blessings to this foul deal. The reason for intervention in Afghanistan was to retaliate for 9/11 but that seems to have gone down the memory hole. |
| Posted by: Guillibaldo Unoluse4693 2010-05-06 17:00 |
| #5 Where they gonna exile them to? Pakistan? Oh. Saudi Arabia. That was my second guess. The nice thing about that is that Saudi Arabia doesn't suffer Untermenschen sitting around collecting welfare payments. They go to the Magic Kingdom and they'll find themselves working like dogs, being treated like dogs... and paid like dogs. The Muslim version of purgatory. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-05-06 16:39 |
| #4 Sounds Criminaly Stupid to me, Getting ALL the Taliban in one place and expecting "Peace". They'll get No peace in that gathering. Sorta like declaring the Jail a Prison after you've cut off all the bars torched off the doors and sent all the guards home. Stupid. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2010-05-06 12:14 |
| #3 Where they gonna exile them to? Pakistan? Oh. Saudi Arabia. That was my second guess. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2010-05-06 11:11 |
| #2 They're prolly hoping to pull a few fence sitters out of the equation as well as those military age fellas who are unemployed - a typical COIN tactic...not sure if it will be successful in this context but prolly worth a try. |
| Posted by: Broadhead6 2010-05-06 09:00 |
| #1 The document seen by The Guardian says insurgent leaders could face ``potential exile in a third country'', the report said, adding that Saudi Arabia has been used in the past for such purposes. It also calls for "deradicalisation" classes to be set up for insurgents and thousands of new manual jobs to be created for foot soldiers who renounce violence, the report said Cant see them settling in a new country with a new job as they seek Jihad over any jobs! Jihad gives them a meaning/purpose in life however stupid! |
| Posted by: Paul2 2010-05-06 08:28 |