Karzai calls for Jirga to combat Taliban

Strengthening traditional leaders is absolutely critical to stabilizing southern Afghanistan, but this initiative may be doomed from the start unless Karzai can credibly assure these leaders that they will actually receive the support he will doubtless promise. Many tribal leaders don't support a hardline Taliban agenda, but also don't feel like they have another option.

The political integration of Pashtun leaders is absolutely critical--but how is it best achieved?  Will creating these Jirgas provide Pakistan an additional opportunity to strengthen its hand in the region? Rashid's article suggests it would, but doesn't really specify how...

Karzai for jirga to crush Taleban
KABUL, Oct 6 (BBC) By Ahmed Rashid:  Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he wants to hold a jirga (council) of Pashtun tribes from Pakistan and Afghanistan to end Taleban violence...Mr Karzai said he expected both he and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to attend the meeting by the year-end. Afghan ministers and officials are however concerned that such a meeting may be "manipulated" by Pakistan.

"I am thinking of a meeting between Afghan civil society, Afghan elders, tribal chiefs, clergy and Afghan spiritual leadership plus the intellectuals. From the Pakistan side I am hoping for the same thing," Mr Karzai told this correspondent in an exclusive interview.

"It should be a gathering of the people from one end of the Afghan border with Pakistan to the other end." Mr Karzai said the jirga would attempt to revive Pashtun civil society on both sides of the border in order to combat what he called the growing Talebanisation of the region. "The traditional secular Pashtun leadership of Pakistan has been undermined systematically and violently," said Mr Karzai...

Photo:  An impromptu shura takes place in Panjshir province May 28, 2007. (U.S. Army photo by Chris Shin) http://www.army.mil 

"The killing of 150 Pashtun leaders in North Waziristan is a clear indication of that. This can only stop if we support civil society," he said...

"A jirga means representative and those not representative cannot be there or called to attend. Nobody can fake a jirga in Afghanistan...and I hope there is similar transparency on the Pakistani side," Mr Karzai said.

Pakistan has long stated that it wants Afghanistan to recognise the Durand Line, the 2,640km (1610 miles)-long border between the two countries.

Afghans say the British-drawn, colonial era border line robs Afghanistan of Pashtun territory now inside Pakistan.

No Afghan government, including the Pashtun-dominated Taleban regime which was recognised by Pakistan, has felt strong enough to recognise the Durand Line.

Mr Karzai said a joint commission could be set up with United Nations help between the two countries, which would decide on who would be eligible to sit in the jirga and the modalities of the meeting among other things.

Mr Karzai said the jirga plan was suggested by him at last week's dinner meeting hosted by President George W Bush for him and Gen Musharraf. This correspondent learns that Gen Musharraf first hesitated at the suggestion. But after Mr Bush said it was a good idea and the US government would support the idea, Gen Musharraf gave his tentative agreement.

Mr Karzai would like to involve the international community in monitoring the jirga.

Mixed feelings

It is believed that most Western countries support the idea but are reluctant to become involved in what they describe as "complex tribal meetings", between two countries which are both allies of the West in the war on terror, but are also deeply antagonistic to each other.

However, many Pashtuns and non-Pashtun Afghans have expressed concerns about the jirga plan. They fear the meeting would allow Pakistan to infiltrate "Taleban ideas through the backdoor". Several cabinet ministers interviewed by this correspondent said the meeting would be "manipulated by Islamabad for its own ends".

"What happens if the Pakistani nominees to the jirga declare jihad against Mr Karzai and the Americans," said one minister, who asked not be named.

Younis Qanooni, the speaker of the Afghan parliament, said it would be "more productive if parliamentary delegations between the two countries met more often rather than have the jirga"....

Comments

[Anjan Sengupta]

Calling Jirga of elders from both Pakistan and Afghanistan is a great idea - but its just that an idea. Let's look at some basic facts :

Pakistan will never allow, read - NEVER, for Afghanistan to prosper. They will continue to dominate Afghanistan through Talebans, poppy cultivation, and Hekmatyar. Pakistan's strategic depth will remain a dream if there is a strong Afghanistan. But, more than IRAQ, it is Afghanistan that is central to this war on terror. And, today NATO, understands the true nefarious designs of ISI - in formenting trouble and breeding terrorists for the world.
It was no small boast from Prez Mushharaf who stated, that without the ISI the West's fight against the terrorists will collapse. Imagine the ludicrousness of the statement, made albeit under stress (the same stress that made him make the silly statement on Mukhtaran Mai - that women get raped intentionally for foreign press). Yes, Musharraf and his ilk and esp the ISI are a dangerous lot. They see their survival in this world through the terror mechanism. China - Pakistan - North Korea is the axis that gave N.Korea its nuclear arsenal. And if truly the N Koreans denonated a nuclear devise, Pakistan's role will become apparent - as it will be, with AQ Khan's daughter willing to share Pakistan's role in this. And you will find Japan, S. Korea and Australia take a hard stance, in future, against Pakistan. The US too will realize, later the role ISI played in the 9/11 bombings with its head sitting in Washington at that time to see the terror in the eyes of the Americans, as terror struck home. In time, the true terror and nature of ISI will become crystal clear to the world. And only after ISI network is dismantled will Afghanistan have a bright future. Taleban are nothing but mere puppets at the hands of ISI handlers. Killing Taleban is aking to chopping fingers off. What needs to be done is to behead the real demon - ISI and then there will be peace on earth and indeed in Afghanistan.
And we in Bengal, can look forward to Afghanistan as we always knew, so well potrayed in the movie, Kabuliwala, as people who are honourable - always honourable.
Cheers to a better life for all of us. ANJAN SENGUPTA (Kolkata, INDIA)