Reintegration hinges on turncoat Taliban
By Abubakar Siddique and Mohammad Sadiq Rishtinai
KANDAHAR - Only weeks ago, Mullah Noorul Aziz was thick in the fight against
Afghan and United States forces, leading more than 600 Taliban fighters across
the deserts, mountains and river valleys of southern Afghanistan to plant land
mines and carry out ambushes.
Today, his life is in the midst of a complete reversal, having switched sides
by signing on to an internationally backed effort to reintegrate militants.
The 30-something Aziz's steps into the unknown are treacherous, and highly
significant to other Taliban members weighing
President Hamid Karzai's calls for them to drop their fight and rejoin the
folds of Afghan society.
"I believed the president when he said that every Taliban [fighter] is my
friend and my brother and that the infidel foreigners should go back to their
own countries," says Aziz.
"We have to live peacefully here because we are the sons of the soil. He
promised to share with us whatever is available to him and his people. [He
promised] that we will have cars, houses and jobs like people now siding with
the government. [He said] their open embrace is waiting for us."
In many ways, the fate of the government's reintegration effort lies in the
fate of Aziz who just earlier this year had been appointed the Taliban's shadow
governor of the northern Kunduz province.
If he can live in peace and safety while managing to eke out a living, and is
ultimately accepted into society, it could serve as a signal to Taliban members
that they indeed have a stake in a peaceful future.
But if things turn out badly - Aziz claims 15 suicide bombers are pursuing him
in an effort to make him an example of what happens to Taliban turncoats - it
could sway the decisions of many former comrades he says are contemplating
desertion from the militants' ranks.
In this respect, officials supervising the process appear encouraged by the
results of the reintegration effort.
In less than a year since the program was launched, some 1,200 Afghans have
joined the Afghanistan Peace and Reintegration Program in 13 provinces.
Building trust and confidence
Afghan intelligence officials expect to bring nearly 2,000 more combatants on
board after vetting them. And the international community has pledged nearly
US$250 million toward the effort.
Major General Philip Jones, head of Force-Reintegration Cell in the North
Atlantic Treaty Organization-led International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF), notes that the process is new, and expectations must be realistic.
Building trust and confidence among Afghans, he says, remains a key challenge:
"We all hope that this really develops solid momentum across the country - that
it really consolidates many of the security gains and it starts to build a
popular peace process from the grassroots upwards," he says.
"But it's extraordinarily difficult to put benchmarks against this because
confidence is one of those things that are difficult to measure."
In Kandahar, analyst Mohammad Omar Sathey sees an opening in the reintegration
of the Taliban fighters. He says that so far three significant Taliban groups
have joined the reintegration process, raising hopes that process will gain
momentum once the peace commission's offices can properly begin functioning.
He says that Kabul and its international allies now need to act on their
promises to provide jobs and vocational training to former combatants. He also
counts a robust information campaign as essential to de-radicalize former
combatants.
'Wait and see'
Maulvi Azizullah Agha, a former Taliban member living in Kandahar, is adamant
that he made the right decision to give up fighting. The tall, bearded,
28-year-old is a former Taliban military judge who lost his brothers, house and
seminary to repeated NATO raids.
Yet Agha is not driven by revenge. He says he gave up fighting after sensing
that only the enemies of Afghanistan benefited from it. Ahja believes that the
Taliban are infiltrated by Pakistani militants from the Punjabi ethnic group
whose goal is to spread chaos and destruction in Afghanistan.
"I might admit that many Punjabi Taliban come here to please Allah [by waging
Jihad]," he says. "They should have only stood with us in fighting the
Americans. But if they want to destroy our homeland, our livelihoods, schools
and other institutions to deprive our youngsters of education, then I will keep
on opposing them. I was opposed to such destruction in the past."
As for others who might be considering leaving the Taliban, however, Agha
advises a wait-and-see approach. "There are many mujahideen [Taliban] who are
ready for reconciliation, but I have told them to wait," he says. "I want them
to watch what happens to our lives and security."
Copyright (c) 2011, RFE/RL Inc. Reprinted with the permission of
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Washington DC
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