Afghan tribal elders discussed ways to reach out to the Taliban on Thursday, despite a rocket and gunfire attack by the insurgents aimed at disrupting a national conference seeking an end to nearly nine years of war. President Hamid Karzai, who launched the traditional “peace jirga” of tribal elders on Wednesday amid the gunfire is hoping to get national support for his plans to reach out to the Taliban ahead of a gradual US military withdrawal from 2011.
Nearly 1,600 delegates, many wearing turbans and long beards, were huddled in a giant tent in the west of the capital to finalise a resolution on a peace plan to end the deadly insurgency.
It consists of luring Taliban foot soldiers back to the mainstream with cash and job incentives while seeking reconciliation with senior figures by offering them asylum in a Muslim country and striking their names off a UN blacklist. “The main deliberations have begun on how we can come up with a peace formula for talks with the Taliban,” Mohammed Shah Hemad, head of one of 28 groups, set up to discuss the proposals. The delegates will report back to former president Burhanuddin Rabani who was named the jirga chairman on the opening day. But even if Mr Karzai does win the backing of the delegates drawn from around the battle-scarred nation, it would amount to little more than symbolic support.