Afghanistan’s President Karzai is infuriated over secret British negotiations with the Taliban which were designed to win over thousands in an effort to break the back of the militant opposition. The British had developed a plan entitled, “European Union Peace Building Programme” which involved building a camp for thousands of Taliban fighters and developing economic reconstruction projects to help develop the area around Helmand where the British have been fighting. The British claim President Karzai was kept informed of their discussions but he insists it was done behind his back. A few weeks ago, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said, “we will not enter into any negotiatin with these people.”
Finally, a bit of creative thinking on the part of the British, and President Karzai apparently is upset. He, along with the Bush adminstration, believes the way to handle militants is bombing and fighting rather than provide economic inducements to get them back into the mainstream of participating in building their nation. Karzai has bought into the Bush plan of having planes drop bombs which invariably wind up killing a few militants and many civilians. We need secret negotiation with the Taliban and we need to win them over with efforts to provide jobs and work projects.
