Kabul: Afghanistan is proposing to offer top
Taliban leaders exile if they agree to stop fighting against
the government under a peace deal being drawn up, a British
newspaper reported on Thursday.
The proposal is part of a radical Peace and Reintegration
Programme to be presented to tribal leaders at a peace
conference or "jirga" of tribal and political leaders from
around Afghanistan later this month, The Guardian said.
The plan is expected to top the agenda when President
Hamid Karzai holds talks with US President Barack Obama in
Washington on May 12, a meeting the Afghan leader`s spokesman
this week described as "extremely important."
The document seen by The Guardian says insurgent leaders
could face "potential exile in a third country", the report
said, adding that Saudi Arabia has been used in the past for
such purposes.
It also calls for "deradicalisation" classes to be set up
for insurgents and thousands of new manual jobs to be created
for foot soldiers who renounce violence, the report said.
Under the plan, former fighters who agreed to lay down
their arms would be given an amnesty against prosecution for
any crimes they may have committed and offered vocational
training in such trades as carpet-weaving and tailoring.
Karzai has long been keen to hold talks with top Taliban
leaders in an effort to quell a crippling and increasingly
deadly insurgency against his Western-backed government.
PTI
