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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (13501)	4/15/2005 11:52:13 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 361517

Truce sought with Taliban Afghan officials work on amnesty plan By Kim Barker Tribune foreign correspondent Published April 15, 2005 KABUL, Afghanistan -- The Afghan government has a message for Taliban members hiding in the mountains or other countries: Come home. Taliban members who are not criminals are welcome in the new Afghanistan, officials say. The government goal is simple: To weaken the Taliban insurgency, especially before parliamentary elections this fall. "Every Afghan who has not returned because of fear, they should no longer have that fear," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said. "They should come back." That has been the government's unofficial policy for three years, almost since the fall of the Taliban regime in late 2001. But in recent months officials have courted Taliban members aggressively. The negotiations have been kept quiet, and often they involve sending tribal leaders to meet with Taliban members in remote areas. President Hamid Karzai is soon expected to announce details of an official amnesty program. The U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan also has supported amnesty for moderate Taliban members because it could help undercut the insurgency. But amnesty has been controversial, especially among people who believe all former Taliban members should face trial. "The government is making a mistake," said Abdulkhalegh Zaligh, deputy governor of Bamiyan province. "The element called `Talib' will bring destruction to Afghanistan again. It's not a good idea to bring them back." Hodgepodge of policies A new reconciliation commission was named in late March. Because a formal program has not been announced, the informal amnesty granted is different in different provinces. In Khost province, the governor hands out letters to returning Taliban members. In Kandahar province, the governor has offered to give agreeable Taliban members their property back. In Nangarhar province, the deputy governor says he knows little about amnesty. The details are difficult to negotiate. Officials say a former Taliban member's guilt is determined by fellow villagers, a process that seems unworkable. "I know people who have been tortured, who have been in trouble with the Taliban," Ahmed Zia Langari, a commissioner with the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. "They don't want the Taliban to come back anywhere." But people from southern Afghanistan portray Taliban support as necessary for the country's future. They are from the same Pashtun tribe and say the Taliban regime brought security to Afghanistan after years of warring among militias. "The people who got rid of the country's problems are the Taliban," said Mohammadshah Kamranai, a tribal elder from Paktika province. "This is an Islamic country. They are Muslims. They should all come back." At least 10 senior Taliban leaders and many more junior members already have returned, Ludin said. But few have done so publicly. Most are nervous to talk and still fear they will be arrested. On a recent afternoon, about a dozen former Taliban members sat on a concrete slab outside a Kabul gas station. They declined to comment publicly. "We are not allowed to talk," said Abdul Hakim Munib, a one-time senior Taliban leader. Another former Taliban member, tribal leaders and the governor of Khost province say they have informally worked to bring Taliban members back to the country. Message getting through Merajuddin Pathan, the governor of Khost, said he started giving radio speeches in January that also were broadcast in the bordering tribal areas of Pakistan. He asked Taliban members to come and help develop the country. Pathan said he also has sent messengers to Pakistan, telling people it is safe to come back. About 20 Taliban members have knocked on his door, even at midnight, Pathan said. He has given them letters showing that their return is government-approved. Some have thwarted other Taliban attacks, informing on a planned attack at a border post in March, he said. "In the Taliban, there will be some die-hards," Pathan said. "But if we follow the path we're on, I promise you that 90 percent of them will come home. It depends on us, actually." Former Taliban member Abdul Salam Rocketi said he has traveled three times in the last two months from Kabul south to his home of Zabul province. He wanted to persuade people to return. Twice, no one showed up at proposed meetings. The third time, Rocketi said, he met with a high-ranking Taliban member from Zabul along the border with Pakistan. "I asked him not to go to the mountains again, not to fight the government," recalled Rocketi, who earned his name because of his ability with a rocket launcher. Rocketi said all former Taliban members should be welcomed like the former warlords, once accused of crimes but now government officials. ---------- kbarker@tribune.com chicagotribune.com