Karzai takes home a tough agenda

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- The international conference in London on the future of Afghanistan helped boost President Hamid Karzai's stature by endorsing his Taliban reconciliation plan, but it also sent the Afghan leader home with a tough agenda he doesn't have much time to complete.

The conference of about 65 nations last week, while recognizing a military solution in Afghanistan is not easy, gave its nod to the Karzai government's key program to convince lower-level Taliban fighters to give up their insurgency and return to society after breaking any ties to al-Qaida in exchange for cash, jobs and other incentives. But whether the program, with a funding of about $500 million, will work remains another matter.

The objective of the conference was to find ways to end the eight-year NATO-led war by having Afghans take charge of their country and providing the needed support to achieve that goal.

In his remarks, Karzai stressed the need to reach out to his countrymen "especially our disenchanted brothers, who are not part of al-Qaida, or other terrorist networks, who accept the Afghan Constitution." He said his government would hold a loya jirga or peace council in this regard.

His government also plans to hold talks with the leaders of the Taliban, many of them suspected of operating from sanctuaries in neighboring Pakistan. The United States has reservations about this part of the plan, certainly not favoring talks with the Taliban's top leader Mullah Mohammed Omar.

Prior to the one-day London conference, Karzai also succeeded in getting the United Nations to remove five former Taliban members from its blacklist.

Karzai needed the boost as he is fighting to firm up the legitimacy of his government at home after a bruising fraud-tainted election, win the trust of Parliament in his new Cabinet and eliminate rampant official corruption, even as the Taliban gains more influence across much of Afghanistan.

Discussing the Taliban reintegration plan, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told National Public Radio that military efforts alone will not suffice to end the conflict and that "you have to begin to go right at the insurgents and peel those off who are willing to renounce violence, renounce al-Qaida, agree to live by the laws and constitution of Afghanistan and re-enter society."

She also cautioned: "That's not going to happen with Mullah Omar and the like."

She rejected any suggestion the reintegration plan is part of an exit strategy, saying: "You're dealing with a very difficult, complex phenomenon."

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of the U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, and his troops who are fighting to reverse the Taliban momentum will be the most directly affected by any Taliban accommodation plan.

Prior to the London meeting, McChrystal told the Financial Times the objective of the U.S. and NATO troop surge is to "shape conditions which allow people to come to a truly equitable solution to how the Afghan people are governed."

On the Taliban's participation in an Afghan government, McChrystal said: "It's hard to speculate about individuals, but I think that anybody who dedicates themselves to the future and not the past, and anybody whose future is focused on the right kinds of things for Afghanistan, under a constitutional fair umbrella, then I think it's likely that it will be a wide participation."

Speaking at a news conference Sunday in Kabul, Karzai again urged Taliban militants to stop fighting his government and work for peace, assuring he would soon discuss his reconciliation effort at the loya jirga, the Voice of America reported.

Karzai said the Taliban demand that the international troops first leave Afghanistan before holding any talks is unrealistic, insisting the United States and NATO will not leave until they have achieved their objective of fighting terrorism.

On other major issues, the London communique said Afghan security forces will be conducting "the majority of operations in the insecure areas of Afghanistan within three years and taking responsibility for physical security within five years." By October 2011 the Afghan government will need to boost the national army's strength to 171,600 and police personnel to 134,000.

The Karzai government is also committed to implementing the National Justice Program that will ensure fair justice for all Afghans, promote the human rights of all citizens, and most important, implement the elimination of violence against women law and "strengthen the participation of women" in all governance institutions.

On fighting corruption, the Karzai government must empower an independent high office of oversight to investigate corrupt officials, establish by this year a statutory basis for related anti-corruption bodies and adopt legislation to make Afghan laws consistent with the U.N. Convention Against Corruption.