Taleban reject 'bribes' of power and cash as they vow to fight on

Published on Wednesday 27 January 2010 21:57

AFGHAN government plans aimed at persuading Taleban fighters to lay down their arms in return for cash have been dismissed by the militants in a statement as a "trick".

However, the same statement included one slender olive branch – a reiteration of an earlier statement by Taleban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar that his fighters had no quarrel with the West.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai is to announce details of a plan to re-integrate thousands of lower to mid-level Taleban fighters, which diplomats said would include job training and money, at a London conference on Afghanistan today.

Mr Karzai will seek funding for the scheme from western donors at the conference. The United States has expressed support for the programme, which was hammered out in meetings in Abu Dhabi this month between the Afghan government and donors.

But in a statement posted on the eve of the conference on one of their websites, the Taleban said the plan was a "trick" and that the Islamists would not be weakened by any scheme pushing for militants to lay down their arms.

"They think the mujahideen of (Afghanistan] will be enticed by money or by positions of power … such thoughts are baseless and futile and have no truth," said the statement.

It also reiterated the Taleban's long-standing position that the only way to end the conflict, now in its ninth year, was for foreign troops to leave the country.

President Karzai said last night that Afghanistan "wants to soon be defending its own territory, its own people, with Afghan means". But he cautioned that the country would need "sustained support" from the international community.

"Afghanistan does not want to be a burden on the shoulder of our allies and friends," Mr Karzai said after meeting German chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin ahead of the London conference.

The conference has been called in the hope of offering western countries a way out of Afghanistan, where Nato forces have been taking increasing casualties.

The centrepiece of the conference is a $500 million (309m) plan to lure Taleban fighters away from the insurgency with jobs and economic incentives – a plan which supporters in Afghanistan acknowledge will take resources and skill from a government with a poor track record for success.

Mr Karzai has said he's willing to talk to Taleban leaders – including the top commander Mullah Omar – if they are willing to renounce violence.

The United Nations has revoked asset-freezing orders and travel bans on five former Taleban officials, something Mr Karzai had been pressing for as part of his effort to draw them back into the fold. None of the five is believed to be active in the Taleban.

Western officials said the re-integration plan would not involve cash handouts to insurgents but be focused on providing jobs – chiefly in the country's growing security forces and agriculture and housing.