A new effort to reintegrate Taliban soldiers is moving ahead as U.S. Gen. David Petraeus prepares to take command in Afghanistan, NATO officials said.
The reintegration plan, which would also seek to win over low-level Taliban commanders, was approved by Afghan President Hamid Karzai last week, The New York Times reported, quoting NATO officials and an aide to an Afghan official overseeing the plan.
The effort is part of a broader one calling for making peace with high-level insurgent leaders, some of whom have taken refuge in neighboring Pakistan, as well getting support from Pakistanis.
The Times said Karzai signed the reintegration decree after much debate and pressure from Afghan and NATO officials. One NATO official said Karzai also got a telephone call recently from Petraeus, who will take over as commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, succeeding Gen. Stanley McChrystal.
NATO officials said they hope the plan will provide a more uniform program than previous efforts in attracting community leaders with the promise of jobs, education and development projects that would allow them to put pressure on local militants to give up fighting.
The report said earlier efforts at reintegration were handicapped by disorganization and a lack of funding.
The Times report noted Taliban commanders and spokesmen have publicly stated they are not interested in joining the government as they believe they are winning the war.
However, NATO officials remain hopeful of the plan.
"We're already seeing small and relatively isolated pockets of reintegration occurring in various places in the country," Maj. Gen. Phil Jones, who leads NATO's reintegration team, told the Times.