U.S. makes double-barrel bid at disarming Taliban

WASHINGTON
— The U.S. military has begun retooling efforts to persuade Afghan
insurgents to disarm or switch sides, a tactic that is a centerpiece of
the new Obama administration war strategy but has been beset by
problems in the battlefield.

The overhaul comes amid criticism that the push to “flip” Taliban
fighters — persuading them to disarm and “reintegrate” into society —
has lagged, most notably because the international military command in Afghanistan has been unprepared to strike deals with fighters offering to lay down their weapons, senior officials said.

Under pressure from the White House,
officials have begun work to rejuvenate that effort. This month, an
admiral overseeing detention systems renewed work to use the U.S. and
Afghan prisons to help teach former Taliban fighters basic skills and entice them to return to Afghan society.

At the same time, senior military officials believe the influx of new troops into eastern and southern Afghanistan could sap the will to fight among less-committed foot soldiers.

During the lengthy White House strategy
review last fall, administration officials pushed the military to begin
a process to flip rank-and-file insurgents, a tactic used in Iraq.

The approach would target at-large Taliban fighters as well as those who have been imprisoned in Afghanistan.

The White House strategy envisioned a
process with two stages: reintegration, or returning former fighters to
society; and reconciliation, or mending differences between extremist
leaders and the Afghan government and persuading the militants to take
part in peaceful political life.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, visiting India and Pakistan last week, acknowledged it was unlikely that Afghan officials would ever reconcile with many former leaders of Afghanistan’s Taliban regime, such as Mullah Mohammed Omar.

But in a discussion with Pakistani reporters Friday, Gates acknowledged there could be a long-term role for the Taliban in Afghanistan, though he said militant leaders would need to meet rigid terms to rejoin the political process.

“The Taliban, we recognize, are part of the political fabric of Afghanistan at this point,” Gates said. “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.”

Gates was more optimistic about persuading
rank-and-file foot soldiers to disarm. To jump-start that effort,
however, Gates acknowledged the U.S. needs to do a better job
protecting those fighters who disarm.

“The Taliban foot soldiers fight for the Taliban
for money or because their families have been intimidated,” Gates said.
“There have been instances where those who have tried to reintegrate,
to go back to their families, their families have been killed.”

In addition to improving security, Gates said economic development is needed so there are jobs for fighters to go back to.

Still, senior military officials have acknowledged
that until recently, too little attention was paid to finding ways to
allow fighters to put down their weapons while retaining their honor.
Last fall, one militant who led a group of about 50 fighters offered to
lay down his arms if his family and the families of his lieutenants
were relocated to the relative safety of Kabul, said one senior U.S. official, describing the episode on condition of anonymity.

However, the NATO-led International
Security Assistance Force, which fielded the demand, was unable to
accommodate the request, and the militant returned to the battlefield
with his fighters.

Since then, military officials said, a new process has been instituted to negotiate with fighters and meet such demands.

A key to improving the effort is reforming Afghan prisons. Vice Admiral Robert Harward Jr., the commander of the military’s Joint Task Force 435, which assumed oversight of the prison system Jan. 7,
said a crucial part of his job is to separate hard-core Islamic
extremists from detainees who can be reintegrated into Afghan society.

“Are they an irreconcilable who remains hostile?”
Harward said. “Or are they an accidental guerrilla who, with a little
education, can be returned to a tribe and become a part of Afghan
society?”

For the latter group, Harward plans to beef up
education and training programs, teaching detainees to learn masonry,
cooking, sewing and other skills.

“If we can give them a skill, when they come back to
their village they can contribute and, at the end of the day, have a
higher purpose in life,” he said.

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(c) 2010, Tribune Co.

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