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To: T L Comiskey who wrote (83619)	9/28/2010 8:00:11 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 89467

Thanks for the explanation re. AFN. Petraeus says Taliban making 'overtures' for peace KABUL (AFP) – The commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan said Tuesday that the Taliban are approaching the Afghan government and foreign forces about laying down arms after almost nine years of insurgency. US General David Petraeus, who commands more than 150,000 NATO and US troops in Afghanistan, said many small insurgent groups had already made "overtures" to NATO forces about quitting the fight. "There have already been 20 or so overtures from small groups around the country," he told AFP, referring to a programme aimed at reintegrating mid-level Taliban commanders and grassroots fighters back into Afghan society. He said NATO supported efforts by President Hamid Karzai to open peace talks with the Taliban leadership and in some cases had helped the process along. "Reconciliation with senior elements of the Taliban is the province of the Afghan government," Petraeus said in an interview with AFP. "President Karzai has established very clear red lines for it, and in this case we support what it is the Afghan government is doing, and in some occasions facilitated as well. "This is very, very early stages, I don't think you would yet call it negotiations, it is early discussions," he said. "People are coming to the government, there are people coming to us," he said, adding: "This is an Afghan government endeavour." Petraeus was referring to the twin-track programme of reconciliation and reintegration, sponsored by the Western allies with a 200-million-dollar trust fund to help pay local Afghan communities to bring fighters in from the cold. Reconciliation focuses on opening a dialogue with the Taliban leadership, and reintegration on encouraging fighters to rejoin their communities. A Taliban spokesman dismissed Petraeus's comments as "completely baseless", saying the insurgents would not "negotiate with foreign invaders or their puppet government". "We want full and unconditional withdrawal of all invading forces from our country," Zabiullah Mujahid told AFP by telephone from an unknown location. Nevertheless, Petraeus said more former Taliban fighters had "recently come forward in that regard," an assertion confirmed by Afghanistan's minister of defence, Abdul Rahim Wardak. "Last night (a) big reintegration has taken place in the west of Afghanistan, a big number, hundreds and I hope that will be the beginning of this process," Wardak told NATO television Tuesday. Approaches to the Taliban leadership, believed to be based in Pakistan, have been led by Karzai, who set up a High Peace Council to open a dialogue. The council was mooted as a negotiating body, made up of representatives of a broad section of Afghan society, to talk peace with the Taliban, who have been waging war since their regime was toppled in late 2001. Karzai on Tuesday renewed his call on the Taliban to give up their violent campaign against his administration. "I call on the Taliban again," he said. "Compatriots! Don't destroy your land for the benefit of others. Don't kill your people for the benefit of others. Embrace peace," he said. The insurgency is at its fiercest in the Taliban's southern base, where Petraeus said a major operation began a week ago in and around Kandahar city, aiming to exert "substantial additional pressure" on the insurgents. Operation Dragon Strike involved about 7,000 troops, he said, calling it the first major operation in which Afghan soldiers outnumbered NATO forces. Dragon Strike is the latest phase of Operation Hamkari, seen as a last-ditch effort to eliminate the Taliban from Kandahar and the surrounding areas of Zhari, Panjawyi and Arghandab. These areas had been "safe havens for the Taliban for over five years," he said. Insurgents had "put up a considerable fight" in some areas, he said and "decided that they might want try to slide away or go into other areas". The three areas -- Arghandab northwest of Kandahar city, and Panjwayi and Zhari to the west -- have long been considered lethal Taliban haunts, mined with bombs that cause the overwhelming majority of deaths among foreign troops. Clearing Kandahar of insurgents is seen as pivotal to the counter-insurgency strategy which Petraeus described as a "comprehensive civil-military campaign". It builds up to July 2011, which US President Barack Obama has laid down as the deadline for starting to draw down US troops -- though both the president and the commander have recently emphasised that it is not a pull-out date. news.yahoo.com