The dominant theme of the Kabul conference is "reintegration", which involves reaching out to low-level insurgents to encourage them to lay down their arms.
N'DJAMENA, CHAD 9 June, 2010 – Six Central African countries showed historic commitment to ending recruitment of child soldiers and to support social reintegration at the regional conference held in Chad today by signing the N'Djamena Declaration.
Congress this year earmarked $100 million to support reintegration programs, while at the London Conference on Afghanistan in February, several countries, Britain, Germany and Japan among them, promised another $150 million to go into a Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund, to be administered jointly by the Afghan government and foreign backers.
Mr Kerry also orchestrated the beginning of Iraq's reintegration into the region, securing an invitation to the Jeddah conference for the new government in Baghdad.
Subsequently, at a Kabul conference in July, more international money was pledged for the reintegration trust fund, and delegates agreed that the High Peace Council would run the program financed by that fund.
The Karzai peace plan, unveiled for delegates from more than 60 countries at today's conference, involves creating a national peace council, to oversee the reintegration of the Taliban rank and file, some 75% of whom are thought to fight within a few miles of their village, for principally local reasons.
Ainsworth defended the controversial "reintegration and reconciliation" programme launched by President Karzai at last month's London conference on Afghanistan.
The announcement is one of many issues surrounding development and governance that will be addressed at the conference, as well as an $800m £523mm) five-year Afghan peace and reintegration programme that "aims to reintegrate in five years up to 36,000 ex-combatants and to reach 4,000 communities in 220 districts of 22 provinces".
-- We expect the conference also will welcome and pledge support for an Afghan-led program of reintegration.
At the London conference last Thursday, which brought together 50 allied and donor countries, reconciliation with and reintegration of insurgents was one of the leading topics.
