January 25, 2010 6:23 PM

printer

Increased troop level to help negotiate Afghanistan peace: NATO

Nato's top commander in Afghanistan has said increased troop levels could bring a negotiated peace with the Taliban. In an interview with Britain's Financial Times newspaper, the US General Stanley McChrystal, said that there had been enough fighting and that he wanted a political solution to the conflict. He said the arrival of the extra 30,000 US troops pledged by President Obama and the additional 7,000 troops promised by other Nato countries in Afghanistan should deliver very demonstrably positive progress in 2010. But he warned that the level of Taliban violence could increase sharply this year. Gen McChrystal said the Taliban wanted to create the perception that Afghanistan was on fire, and that President Karzai and his Western allies could not cope. However, if the new US-led strategy was successful, the militants could look desperate in a year's time, he added. His comments come ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan due to be held in London on Thursday. Both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Pakistani counterpart, Asif Ali Zardari, will attend the conference.A senior executive of the UN, Kai Eide suggested removal of some top Taliban commanders names from the UN terrorist wanted list to pave the way for a breakthrough in Afghanistan. The senior official in Afghanistan said, the time has come to do it. He also suggested that an expeditious review of the detainees being held at the Bagram American military prison be undertaken to see if any of the prisoners could be released. While, calling for deletion of names of some prominent Taliban commanders from the ban list, Eide was quoted by the New York Times as saying that such an amnesty should not be extended to the topmost commander like Afghan Taliban chief Mulla Omar, whom he described as a shield for al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden. The comments by the NATO and the UN chief made in interviews to media come in the run up to a crucial meeting on the future of Afghanistan to be held in London on Wednesday.

Most Read
View All arrow-right

No posts found.