Do you support plans to reintegrate members of the Taliban into Afghan society?

[NNN0LHI]

http://www.khaleejtimes.ae/DisplayArticle08.asp?xfile=data/international/2010/January/international_January899.xml§ion=international

US supports Afghan plan to reintegrate Taliban (AP)

17 January 2010, KABUL - The U.S. supports a proposal to lure fighters with no strong allegiance to terrorists away from the insurgency and reintegrate them into Afghan society, the American special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said Sunday.

Richard Holbrooke said he talked with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Sunday about a plan the government is crafting to offer jobs, vocational training and other economic incentives to tens of thousands of Taliban foot soldiers willing to switch sides after eight years of war.

“We completely support the program as it develops,” Holbrooke said. “The majority of the people fighting with the Taliban are not supporters of (Taliban leader) Mullah Omar. They’re not supporters of the ideology of al-Qaida. They don’t even know who al-Qaida is and yet they fight because they’ve been misled by false information.”

Holbrooke, who had a heated meeting last year with Karzai over the fraud-stained Afghan presidential election, spoke at town hall-style event in the Afghan capital of Kabul where about 40 academics, videographers, representatives from non-governmental organizations, radio broadcasters and others were invited to ask Holbrooke questions. Their inquiries ranged from questions about reintegration and corruption to U.S. economic assistance and the Pakistani intelligence service’s involvement in violence in the region — a question Holbrooke declined to answer.

[closeupready]

1. Why would someone say no, if by 'reintegrate' you mean rehabilitate as peaceful citizens

of a state recognized by the UN and which is a peaceful member of the world? The Allies successfully reintegrated former Nazis into post-war Germany, and they could do it with the Taliban, I have no doubt.

If instead you mean Mullah Omar or any of the others who collaborated significantly with the 9/11 plotters, then obviously, no.

[NJmaverick]

2. Yes, if successful there is a good chance the US will be able to achieve it's goals

of a stable Afghanistan and then our troops can come home.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

3. They already are part of Afghan society.

Even if Holbrooke says they're ignorant, easily misled, and don't understand that when we kill them and their fellow citizens it's for their own good.

Holbrooke reads too much Kipling.

[Cal Carpenter]

11. Ding ding ding...

"They already are part of Afghan society. "

yep.

[Robb]

4. I maintain it doesn't really matter

...The notion is simply meant to drive more wedges between Karzai and the locals.

Obama's been doing business around Karzai instead of through him. Karzai responds by increasing his anti-West rhetoric. We respond by appealing to the Taliban.

It's something of a side show, IMO.

[lumberjack_jeff]

5. Everyone who said "no", failed to learn the lessons of the US civil war. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

6. Yes of course. Peace requires negotiations and concessions. nt.

[frebrd]

7. The sort of religious "believers".......

who've been sucked into the Taliban are not to be trusted.

[Warren Stupidity]

8. what about the ones in our Air Force?

[frebrd]

9. They're also not to be trusted! n/t

[SoCalDem]

10. In 1865, there were probably similar worries

Unless all the "enemy" is killed, there has to be a reintegration after conflict