Main focus of Friday, January 29, 2010

Afghanistan strategy under scrutiny

Around 70 states agreed on Thursday at the Afghanistan conference in London to allocate more troops and financial aid to Afghanistan. But this strategy alone can never achieve a lasting peace, commentators write.

Trouw - Netherlands

The West's plan to put considerable sums into an opt-out programme for rebel Taliban fighters is sending the wrong signal, writes the daily Trouw: "True Taliban leaders have never responded to Karzai's invitations because, violent fundamentalists that they are, they haven't been the least bit interested. This paper's Afghanistan blogger Haroon Parvani once put it this way: 'Talk with the Taliban? Then they're not the Taliban any more.' Nevertheless the door must remain open for young Afghans who've had enough of working with the Taliban. For them various reintegration programmes already exist. But the international community would do well not to put large sums into an opt-out programme for Taliban fighters. That would also be sending the wrong signal to the tens of thousands of Afghans who have been risking their lives in the police force, army, administration and education system in the interests of a stable, peaceful society." (29/01/2010)

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Dziennik Gazeta Prawna - Poland

Further concessions must follow on the Nato-financed opt-out programme for Taliban fighters in Afghanistan, writes the daily Dzienik Gazeta Prawna: "Until now the West has financed the war and the aid programmes. But that is a dead end, and can only result in defeat. The conference in London is finally asking the decisive question: 'How can we persuade the Taliban to stop fighting us?' The Nato states and the Afghan government have resolved to buy them out. But that alone is insufficient, because more political concessions are needed. For this process to be believable the Taliban must be allowed to run in parliamentary elections, the office of governor (now filled by President Hamid Karzai) must be revamped, a government of reconciliation with the participation of the rebels must be formed and there must be a partial withdrawal of Western troops." (29/01/2010)

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All available articles from » Andrzej Talaga

Delo - Slovenia

The international community is following the wrong strategy in Afghanistan if it thinks it can convert the radical Islamist Taliban movement with financial aid, writes the daily Delo: "The London conference ... appears to be right in holding that Afghanistan will only have a stable future when the Afghans themselves have a hand in forming it. But the way to stability and peace in Afghanistan chosen by the international community is competely wrong. The Taliban's influence is growing from day to day, and they have always stressed that cooperation with the Kabul government will only be possible once all foreign troops have left the country. Hence it is illusory, even perilous, to expect that the Taliban will accept such an offer from the 'arrogant foreigners'. The rebels are fighters, not prostitutes, and the price of freedom, stability and peace in Afghanistan has never been given in euros or dollars, but in the number of victims, most of whom are civilians." (29/01/2010)

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All available articles from » Bostjan Videmsek

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung - Germany

Following the London conference on Afghanistan there is as yet little evidence of the announced change in the Afghanistan strategy, the conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung writes: "In actual fact even the Americans and British never believed peace could be brought to Afghanistan through military means alone. ... The 'change in strategy' is far less momentous than above all the [German] government would have us believe. The West has always pursued a double strategy in Afghanistan, albeit with a shifting focus dictated by the circumstances. The Americans, however, didn't wait for another Afghanistan conference to learn from their mistakes, as their changed guidelines for engagement showed last year. But the Europeans are fond of their conferences. ... London was supposed to send the message to war-weary nations that everyone, including the Afghans, must redouble their efforts to bring this whole business to an end." (29/01/2010)

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More from the press review on the subject » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Europe, » North America, » Afghanistan
All available articles from » Berthold Kohler

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