Karzai details Taliban reconciliation plan

MUNICH, Germany, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Reintegration plans for members of the Taliban include thousands of insurgents who have no ideological links to al-Qaida, the Afghan president said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said during a London summit in January that he would advocate a plan to encourage moderate insurgents to join a reconciliation effort in his country.

The plan is modeled after the counterinsurgency strategy in Iraq that saw U.S. military forces place insurgents on Washington's payroll in exchange for taking up arms against al-Qaida.

Karzai said during a security conference in Munich, Germany, during the weekend that the reconciliation effort with the Taliban was a political issue he would take up with his neighbors.

His office said that reintegration would involve "thousands of youths" who joined the ranks of the Taliban for "various reasons," provided they had no ideological links with al-Qaida.

He said he would convene a loya jirga to discuss the reintegration effort and move forward with a high council for reconciliation to facilitate peace efforts.

His comments come as international forces prepare for one of the largest military operations in Afghanistan since U.S. forces toppled the Taliban regime in 2001.

Around 15,000 troops are prepping for deployment in the resistive Helmand province to take on Taliban and other insurgent elements.

A corresponding air campaign is expected to be the largest since U.S. forces bombarded Baghdad during the Gulf War.