KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Afghan militants who laid down their weapons are rejoining the insurgency campaign after Kabul failed to deliver on its promises, militant commanders said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai laid out an ambitious reintegration and reconciliation plan during his May visit to Washington. A so-called peace jirga followed in Kabul in June to outline ways to bring insurgents into the political process and abandon their fight.
Nur Gul, a Taliban commander who laid down his weapon last year, told the Institute for War and Peace Reporting by telephone that his frustration with the slow pace of reconstruction led him back to the insurgency.
"This time I will fight against the government and the foreign occupying forces to the last drop of blood," he said.
Arbab Zaman Gul, a former commander with Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's militant group Hezb-e Islami, told IWPR that he was interested in rebuilding his country when he surrendered in May, but has since given up on Kabul.
"We wanted our area to be rebuilt and we wanted job opportunities to be created so that we would have a chance to get work," he said. "But the government has reneged on all its commitments."
Afghan reconciliation officials and provincial leaders said budgetary strains and "inattentiveness" were hampering much of the reintegration effort.
