Delegates at a landmark conference aimed at bringing an end to Afghanistan's long war Friday proposed steps for the Afghan government to take in order to draw the Taliban to the negotiating table. Around 1,600 delegates, representing Afghans across the political and social spectrum, are attending the so-called peace jirga which wraps up Friday in a massive tent in Kabul. Delegates called for the establishment of a peace commission to lead efforts to open talks with the Taliban to bring an end to the war now in its ninth year. “A peace committee which represents all Afghans and which the opposition could trust must be created to lead the peace talks with the opposition,” Mawlavi Sidiqullah, who headed one of the jirga's 28 committees, told the delegates “Talks should take place in an Islamic country,” he said. The delegates were divided into committees that sat down Thursday to consider the specifics of a plan for President Hamid Karzai to approach militant leaders, including who and how, for negotiations that could lead to an end to war. In a session that reflected widespread sympathy for the Taliban, the leader of each committee addressed the delegates as they gathered in the huge tent. Parliamentarian Atiqullah Ludin, who also headed a committee, said the militant leaders must be approached directly as the starting point for peace talks. “The addresses of Mullah Mohammad Omar Mujahed and Engineer (Gulbuddin) Hekmatyar must be located and the talks must start from there,” he said, referring to the leaders of the Taliban and Hezb-i-Islami militant groups respectively. – AgenciesDelegates also called for the release of Afghans held without charge in military detention centres and an end to military operations conducted by NATO soldiers without the participation of Afghanistan's own security forces. Corruption, which infects every aspect of Afghan life and is a reason for the unpopularity of Karzai's government, was also singled out as a cause of the unrest that is blighting the country. The committees' submissions will be collated into an overall position set to be presented to the jirga as it closes later on Friday, organisers said. The Taliban have said they will not open negotiations until all foreign forces leave Afghanistan. There are 130,000 troops under US and NATO command leading the battle against the insurgents, with another 20,000 due to be deployed by August, most to Kandahar, the main theatre of operations. The insurgents were not invited but launched an attack on the opening session on Wednesday, with a suicide squad firing rockets near the jirga tent until two of them were shot dead and one taken into custody, authorities said. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Thursday Washington wants to be kept “fully informed” about Karzai's efforts to reintegrate the Taliban. “There is no military solution to most conflicts. This is not unique in that regard,” Clinton told reporters “There have to be political decisions that go along with military actions. And we have told President Karzai most recently on his visit that we understand that. And we support his efforts.” Clinton recalled the US position, which is cautiously favourable to reintegrating Taliban fighters who renounce Al-Qaeda, abandon violence, and commit to live by the laws of Afghanistan. “We've been very clear in our approach that we think that there is basis for reintegrating Taliban fighters back into society,” she said. President Barack Obama has said he wants to start drawing down troops from mid-2011, while the new British government is keen to get out “as soon as possible”.
