Hundreds of Afghan elders and powerful are set to meet in Kabul to discuss how to persuade the Taliban to lay down their arms.
President Hamid Karzai will use the three-day "peace jirga" to gain support for his plan to offer financial incentives for reform militants.
Taliban leaders have rejected talks and in danger the delegates with death.
They lead a nine-year struggle to overthrow the US-backed administration and dismiss 130 000 foreign troops there.
Traditional solution
Up to 1600 delegates - including tribal leaders, religious leaders and parliamentarians from around the country - are expected to convene a giant tent at a university in Kabul for the traditional meeting.
Hey will be far outnumbered by 12,000 sanctuary personnel to protect against possible attacks Taliban.
The Jirga is due to end late Friday, is a declaration expected, what steps should be taken to end the uprising, which groups to include in the process, and how they should be approached.
'Useless training'
President Karzai has optional offering an amnesty and reintegration incentives for low-level Taliban who accept the establishment.
He has also offered to negotiate the removal of some Taliban from a UN blacklist, and to provide some leadership for asylum in another Islamic country to hold peace talks.
At the end of the meeting issued a Taliban statement said that the jirga does not represent the Afghan people and aimed to secure an interest in strangers.
Another rebel group called Hizb-i Islami, led by former Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the discussion a "useless exercise".
"Participants in the Jirga, the state favorites," said a statement published by the group. "They have no decision making powers. It is only a consultative jirga - without the contribution of the Mujahideen (fighters)."
Both militant groups have refused to participate in peace negotiations as long as foreign troops in Afghanistan.
But the BBC's Paul Wood in Kabul said NATO believes that by addressing local protests, many Taliban who are fighting near their homes would switch sides, and left irreconcilable and ideologues are still stressed.
Even when Jirga gets underway, it is NATO, U.S. and Afghan forces are preparing for their biggest offensive against insurgents in the southern province of Kandahar.
Foreign troops numbers are set to a peak of 150,000 in August, before U.S. President Barack Obama will begin a planned removal of troops in July 2011.
No comments:
Post a Comment