KABUL — After two days of sometimes acrimonious debate, President Hamid Karzai on Thursday looked likely to win a national peace conference’s support for his plan to invite the Taliban to negotiations to try to end Afghanistan’s years of war.
But delegates differed about exactly what to offer, and to whom, and when. They argued over whether the top leadership should be welcomed to the negotiating table. And some said the three-day jirga, as the conference is known, was too short to achieve a meaningful outcome.
The government says it called together the 1,500 provincial, religious, tribal and other leaders from across the country to advise Karzai on what to try next to end fighting between Taliban insurgents and Afghan forces backed by U.S. and NATO troops.
The president wants to offer insurgents incentives to lay down their arms, and to hold talks with top Taliban leaders if they renounce al-Qaeda and vow to uphold the constitution.
The Taliban has dismissed the jirga as a “phony reconciliation process” stacked with Karzai’s supporters. The Taliban insists there will be no negotiations until all foreign troops leave Afghanistan — a condition Karzai could not accept.
