Britain has launched a reconciliation drive in Afghanistan in an effort to undermine the radical Islamist Taliban militia, The Guardian reported in an early edition of its Tuesday newspaper. According to the daily, which cited unnamed senior British officials, Britain is now trying to identify Taliban fighters who are sick of fighting, and will attempt to persuade them to rejoin their tribes instead.
The news came after Defence Secretary Des Browne announced on Monday that 1,400 extra troops would be sent to southern Afghanistan, where NATO forces are bracing for a Taliban spring offensive.
"We do not use the word 'win' … We can't kill our way out of this problem," a source told the paper.
Captured Taliban fighters may be offered alternatives to jail terms, and Britain will seek to negotiate more deals with tribal elders, The Guardian said.
"We are convinced most people do not support the Taliban and want to take a route through it," another source was quoted as saying by the daily.
An unidentified official familiar with British policy on Afghanistan told The Guardian: "The Taliban is not a homogenous group. It is a mixture of characters — criminals, drug dealers, people out of work."
"The Taliban pays them to carry out these attacks so there are ways to tackle the problem, to split off the disillusioned."
The additional 1,400 British troops in Afghanistan takes the total number of British soldiers there from 6,300 to 7,700, with the announcement of the surge coming less than a week after Prime Minister Tony Blair announced a cut of 1,600 troops serving in Iraq.
Nearly 50 British troops have been killed in Afghanistan since the US-led war was launched in October 2001, many since last summer when Britain took over NATO command, spearheading a push into the volatile south.
Source: Agence France-Presse
