Afghan jirga agrees peace moves with Taliban
Afghan tribal elders and religious leaders formally endorsed President Hamid Karza's proposals to seek peace with the Taliban to end nine years of war on the final day of a traditional assembly yesterday.
Karzai called the "peace jirga" to win national support for a peace plan consisting of offering an amnesty, cash and job incentives to Taliban foot soldiers while arranging asylum for top figures in a second country.
"We must initiate peace effort with full force," said Qiyamuddin Kashaf, deputy chairman of the jirga reading out from the resolutions approved by the assembly in a heavily guarded tent in the west of the capital.
The 1,600 delegates, chosen to represent Afghan tribes, politics and geography, also urged the warring sides to declare a cease-fire to allow peace efforts to move forward.
The outcome of the conference was largely preordained, as the government had handpicked the delegates and broadly set the parameters of the discussion.
The jirga called for the establishment of a high commission to pursue peace efforts with the Taliban, who have grown into a deadly fighting force since their ouster in 2001 from US backed forces.
But there were few signs that the Taliban, who have dismissed the jirga as a phoney American-inspired show to perpetuate their involvement in the country, were ready to respond to the peace offer.
On Wednesday they attacked the opening of the jirga with rockets and gunfire just as Karzai was speaking inside a giant marquee in the west of the capital.
The Taliban want the withdrawal of all foreign forces from the country before any negotiations can begin.
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