Karzai plans to pay Taliban to lay down guns

KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai unveiled an ambitious Western-funded plan Friday to offer money and jobs to tempt Taliban fighters to lay down their arms and return to civilian life.

His comments in an interview with the BBC came as US Defence Secretary Robert Gates described the Taliban as part of Afghanistan's "political fabric" but said any future role would depend on insurgents laying down their weapons.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also unveiled a long-term non-military strategy to stabilise Afghanistan and Pakistan that calls for sending in more civilian experts and bringing extremists back into mainstream society.

The Taliban militia and other insurgent groups have been waging an increasingly deadly rebellion against the Afghan government and foreign troops since a US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime from power in late 2001.

"We know as the Afghan people we must have peace at any cost," Karzai said in the television interview aired Friday ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan in London next week.

"Those that we approach to return will be provided with the abilities to work, to find jobs, to have protection, to resettle in their own communities."

Hardline Taliban supporters, who were members of Al-Qaeda or other terror groups, would not be accepted, Karzai said, adding that he expected the plan to be announced at the London conference on Thursday.

The Taliban gives its volunteers higher salaries than the Afghan government can afford to pay its forces, and the president said his project would have international backing to provide the necessary funds.

The Taliban leadership have repeatedly rebuffed peace talks in the past, while spokesmen for another top insurgent leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar also said he would not come to the table unless strict conditions were met.

"We want a free and independent Afghanistan. We are ready for positive negotiations which can bring results and peace in our country," spokesman Waliullah told AFP on Friday.

But another spokesman for the warlord, Zubair Sediqi, said that before peace talks were held, "all the foreign forces must leave Afghanistan unconditionally (and) a permanent ceasefire must be enforced."

Karzai has faced severe criticism from Western powers over the fraud-tainted August election that returned him to power, but said his position could be strengthened by increased resources.

"My presidency is weak in regard to the means of power, which means money, which means equipment, which means manpower, which means capacity," he said.

Karzai sounded an optimistic note about the war-ravaged country's future, predicting that in five years Afghanistan could be in control of its own security and the fight against corruption and drugs.

On a visit to Pakistan -- which has come under intense US pressure to do more to wipe out Islamist extremists along its border with Afghanistan -- Gates said the Taliban had to prove they wanted a role in Afghanistan's future.

"The question is whether they are prepared to play a legitimate role in the political fabric of Afghanistan going forward, meaning participating in elections, meaning not assassinating local officials and killing families," he told reporters.

Gates had said earlier this week it was unlikely Taliban leaders would reconcile with Afghanistan's government but that lower-ranking insurgents might be open to making peace with Kabul.

In Washington on Thursday, Clinton announced a civilian strategy to rebuild the Afghan farm sector, improve governance and bring extremists back into mainstream society.

It also calls for boosting Pakistan's capabilities to fight a growing Islamist insurgency and to enhance the US partnership with Islamabad.

It complements a military strategy in which President Barack Obama announced on December 1 he would deploy another 30,000 US troops to Afghanistan.

Extra troop commitments from NATO allies are expected to take to around 150,000 the total number of foreign troops operating in Afghanistan under US and NATO command in the coming year.