03 December 2009

New U.S. Afghanistan Strategy Could Help Reintegrate Some Taliban

The U.S. supports efforts by Afghanistan to reach out to Taliban fighters who renounce violence and want to reintegrate into society.

By Stephen Kaufman
Staff Writer

Washington — U.S. officials recognize the challenge of getting some Taliban conscripts to abandon their armed struggle against the Afghan government and international forces, but are anticipating that President Obama’s strategy in Afghanistan and Pakistan will help increase security, improve economic prospects and make it easier for non-ideological Taliban fighters to reintegrate into their communities.

In his December 1 remarks outlining the new strategy, President Obama said the United States “will support efforts by the Afghan government to open the door to those Taliban who abandon violence and respect the human rights of their fellow citizens” and assured the Afghan people that the United States has “no interest in occupying your country.”

Speaking before the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee December 3, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton told U.S. lawmakers that the Obama administration understands that some who are fighting international and Afghan government forces “do not do so out of ideology, theology or conviction, but, frankly, due to coercion and money.”

She said the United States believes that the average Taliban fighter “receives two to three times the monthly salary [of] the average Afghan soldier or police officer.”

Among much of the Afghan population, “there is no appetite for the return of the Taliban whatsoever,” she said, adding that many within the Taliban do not share the overall goal of the core group. The Taliban have “morphed” from a homegrown Afghan nationalistic and Islamist group that rose up in response to the Soviet invasion and chaos under the country’s warlord era into a group that now espouses establishment of a united caliphate across the Muslim world, she said.

“A lot of the people who have been conscripted, in effect, into service on behalf of the Taliban have no real allegiance,” the secretary said.

However, many Afghans increasingly have been wavering between supporting the government and supporting the Taliban insurgency. “People are understandably nervous,” Clinton said, over what the outcome of the fighting will be and which side they and their family should be supporting.

According to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, Afghans fear that choosing the wrong side could lead to their getting killed. “They are waiting to see where the momentum is shifting,” he told the lawmakers at the committee hearing.

“Frankly, it’s this shift of momentum that we think is important, and that is a fundamental purpose behind this surge of troops to push that Taliban back.” Part of the goal is to create a more secure environment “in which these people … [can] decide which way they want to go,” he said.

The 30,000 additional U.S. forces President Obama is sending to Afghanistan will deploy in the first part of 2010 and will be targeting the insurgency, securing key population centers and training Afghan security forces.

Gates said the president’s strategic concept “aims to reverse the Taliban’s momentum and reduce its strength while providing the time and space necessary for the Afghans to develop enough security and governance capacity to stabilize their own country.”

“The essence of our civil-military plan is to clear, hold, build and transfer,” he said.

The defense secretary said the concept of reintegrating Taliban fighters is focused on the foot soldiers who, under better circumstances, would prefer to return to their homes.

“We think that there is some significant percentage of these foot soldiers who actually are doing this for pay, or who have been intimidated into doing it,” he said.

Part of the president’s strategy also calls for an increase in civilian assistance programs. Gates said providing more people with economic opportunities, including in agriculture, would allow the soldiers better alternative ways of earning a salary.

But the security component of the president’s plan is “absolutely central” to the effort, he said, because of “too many stories of people who have wanted to quit the Taliban, who not only themselves have been killed, but all of their family have been killed.”

Gates said that along with reintegrating some Taliban fighters, there is also the concept of reconciliation with Taliban leaders “to get these guys to think differently about the future” and “bring them over” from violent resistance. However, “until the momentum shifts against the Taliban, the likelihood of significant reconciliation in those terms is not very bright,” he said.