BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN -- Important news on the political front from Afghanistan: Elders in the remote northwestern province of Badghis reached a ceasefire accord with Taliban insurgents, the first political deal struck with insurgents ahead of the presidential elections next month. According to the BBC, insurgent leaders agreed not to attack polling stations and hand control of key areas to the government.
President Hamid Karzai, who launched his re-election campaign earlier this month, has pledged to reconcile with "moderate" Taliban. Reuters, quoting Karzai spokesman Seyamak Herawi, said the government hoped to strike similar deals with insurgent groups in other parts of the country ahead of the August 20 presidential vote.
The idea of reconciling with Taliban groups -- at least on the local level -- is not a new idea. Last year, Gen. David McKiernan — who was recently replaced as commander of both the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) and U.S. Forces Afghanistan by Gen. Stanley McChrystal— talked up the idea of cleaving off the "Taliban with a small 't'" from more ideologically committed militant groups. President Barack Obama has also endorsed that approach.
Speaking today at NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.K. Foreign Secretary David Miliband outlined a political strategy for Afghanistan that spells out in some detail what reconciliation might look like. A political settlement, Miliband said, "draws away conservative Pashtun nationalists - separating those who want Islamic rule locally from those committed to violent jihad globally - and gives them a sufficient role in local politics that they leave the path of confrontation with their government."
Footsoldiers, Miliband said, need economic incentives for laying down arms; higher-level commanders, he added, must be drawn into the political process. "We need to work with the Afghan government to separate the hard-line ideologues, who are essentially irreconcilable and violent and who must be pursued relentlessly, from those who can be drawn into domestic political processes," he said.
Not all is rosy: Over the weekend, one of Karzai's running mates, Mohammad Qasim Fahim, survived an ambush in northern Kunduz province, a once-quiet corner of Afghanistan that has seen a recent upswing in violence. And while the news from the remote northwest of the country may be optimistic, Badghis ain't Helmand Province.
[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]
ALSO:
- High-Tech Brigade Heads to Afghanistan, Loaded With Gadgets ...
- Danger Room in Afghanistan: On a Short Drive, Signs of Progress ...
- Danger Room in Afghanistan: Rebuilding Bamiyan
- Afghanistan Tells Journos: No Election Criticism (Updated ...
- Danger Room in Afghanistan's 'Boomtown'
- Surge of Nerds Rebuilds Afghanistan
- Chopper Shoot-Down Reveals Deeper Flaws in Afghanistan Ops ...
- Don't Ask, Don't Tell on Afghanistan's Supply Routes
