11/17/09
The foreign secretary of the United Kingdom says a future political solution for Afghanistan will include senior Taliban commanders in government.
Speaking Tuesday at a NATO parliamentary assembly in Edinburgh, David Miliband said the Afghan government would include "high-level commanders that can be persuaded to renounce al-Qaeda and pursue their goals peacefully."
He said most Taliban fighters could be convinced to stop fighting.
Miliband's comments come a day after U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said he wants to host a January 2010 NATO meeting to set a timetable for the transfer of Afghanistan to full Afghan control.
"I want that conference to chart a comprehensive political framework within which the military strategy can be accomplished," Brown said.
"It should identify a process for transferring district by district to Afghan control, and if at all possible we should set a timetable for transferring districts starting in 2010," he said.
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http://news.aol.ca/article/future-afghan-govt-to-include-taliban-uk/739624/related:
Times Online UK: British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday.British forces should buy off potential Taleban recruits with “bags of gold”, according to a new army field manual published yesterday.
Army commanders should also talk to insurgent leaders with “blood on their hands” in order to hasten the end of the conflict in Afghanistan.
The edicts, which are contained in rewritten counter-insurgency guidelines, will be taught to all new army officers. They mark a strategic rethink after three years in which British and Nato forces have failed to defeat the Taleban. The manual is also a recognition that the Army’s previous doctrine for success against insurgents, which was based on the experience in Northern Ireland, is now out of date.
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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6919516.ece