LONDON — Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Thursday that he will convene a nationwide meeting of tribal, religious and political leaders in the next few weeks to discuss reintegration and reconciliation with the Taliban. Afghan government officials said Taliban leaders would also be welcome to attend.
Speaking to a gathering of foreign ministers from nearly 70 countries here, Karzai urged Saudi Arabia, which has previously offered to serve as a go-between with Taliban leaders, to play a “prominent role” in the process and called for international financial backing.
“We must reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers,” Karzai said. He pressed the United Nations, which last week removed the names of five one-time Taliban leaders from its list of known terrorists, to make “more progress in this regard.”
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton endorsed Karzai’s outreach, at least as far as reintegrating low-level Taliban fighters whom the U.S. deems not ideologically committed to insurgency and who can be lured with jobs and the promise of security from retaliation.
“You don’t make peace with your friends,” Clinton said in a news conference. “You have to be willing to engage with your enemies.”
But Clinton and other U.S. officials drew a distinction between such reintegration and “reconciliation” with Taliban leaders invited to negotiate with the government.
Afghan government officials told reporters unequivocally that the Taliban would not be excluded from the proposed meeting, but they were vague about whether its representatives would have to completely renounce the battlefield before beginning negotiations.
Participants in the conference pledged $140 million to a special “reintegration fund ” to provide jobs and an infrastructure for reformed insurgents — a figure that is projected to reach as much as $500 million over five years.
Clinton said the United States will not contribute to the fund, adding that the U.S. military has already authorized “significant” expenditures for reintegration efforts. A senior State Department official said that an official U.S. contribution would require a presidential waiver of current Treasury Department terrorism designations applying to the Taliban.
Several governments announced contributions of additional troops to the Afghan effort, including up to 850 from Germany and 500 from Spain. There were additional but largely non-specific pledges to boost support for Afghan police training and civilian personnel.
U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan will reach about 100,000 with the arrival of 30,000 additional troops President Barack Obama authorized as part of the new strategy. NATO and other contributing governments have about 30,000 troops there.
