EU:The international coalition in Afghanistan should seek to "divide and rule" insurgents there by enticing "moderates" away from the hardcore Taliban with offers of cash and other incentives, a report urged yesterday, writes Mark Johnin Brussels.
The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) noted that US officials remained sceptical of such overtures.
However, citing precedents in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, it argued that stability was impossible unless former insurgents joined democratic politics.
"Enticements could include money, paid in instalments, to ensure an ongoing commitment to the government," said ECFR analyst Daniel Korski, a former aide to Paddy Ashdown - the British official tipped to become the UN special Afghan envoy.
"The coalition could then operate a system of 'divide and rule', whereby intransigent insurgents would see their erstwhile comrades rewarded with a package of financial and other incentives," Mr Korski said in the report.
Such rewards could include "benefit packages" comprising health clinics and schools in the local fief of a co-operative leader, he said, proposing that the European Union allocate at least €50 million for such a pilot scheme.
The ECFR was established late last year to study EU foreign policy and is co-chaired by former German foreign minister Joschka Fischer and former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari.
The report comes as western officials are reviewing the international strategy in Afghanistan, which has suffered from a lack of co-ordination between key agencies and differences within Nato's 42,000-strong force on how to tackle the insurgency.
Officials including British prime minister Gordon Brown and Nato's top commander of operations, US Gen John Craddock, have backed reconciliation efforts in a bid to end violence that claimed 5,000 lives last year alone.
Afghan president Hamid Karzai has also said Taliban leaders were contacting him to try to find ways of making peace. - (Reuters)
