London Conference pledges to build up Afghan security forces, give Afghans greater control

by Peter Barker

LONDON, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- Afghan security forces were going to be massively built up, and those forces would take more of lead in fighting against the Taliban, said a communique issued by the International Conference on Afghanistan Thursday.

The participants "re-affirmed the goals of greater Afghan leadership, increased regional cooperation and more effective international partnership," the communique said.

"Together we are committed to make intensive efforts to ensure that the Afghan government is increasingly able to meet the needs of its people through developing its own institutions and resources."

One of the key points was that international involvement in Afghanistan would change "in favor of increasingly supporting Afghan leadership in the areas of security, development, governance and economic assistance," said the communique.

A number of Afghan provinces would be handed over wholly to Afghan control by late this year or the early next, it said.

The Afghan government said the Taliban militants who renounced their militancy would be invited to attend a peace jirga or conference it planned to hold later this year.

To encourage the Taliban militants to stop fighting and support the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the conference endorsed a plan to set up a fund of at least 300 million U.S. dollars which will be used to support Taliban who renounce violence and al-Qaida.

The conference also endorsed a plan to provide Afghanistan with up to 1.6 billion dollars in debt relief from major creditors.

The conference was hailed as a move in the right direction by experts. "Karzai has made it very clear he wants the Afghan security forces to start taking over from the international forces," Christopher Langton, of the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, told Xinhua.

The international forces are part of the problem in Afghanistan partly by not fully understanding the cultural issues and also by their use of tactics such as night raids, said the security analyst.

The Taliban are generally not corrupt and swift in upholding justice at the local level, and this "wins them territory in the hearts of people," he added.

Afghan society is much more bottom to top than the way it is currently being engaged with by the international forces and moves to stamp out corruption at local levels are positive.

In the long term, the country's economic development is vital, and China is taking a lead with its investment in copper mine at Aynak, said Langton.