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Afghan conference agree on handover targets: draft
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Afghan conference agree on handover targets: draft
AFP - 43 minutes ago
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Afghan conference agree on handover targets: draft
LONDON (AFP) - – International forces in Afghanistan will begin handing over control of security in some provinces from the end of the year, according to a draft communique drawn up by world powers meeting here on Thursday.
The document also offers support and funding for Afghan President Hamid Karzai's plans to woo moderate Taliban insurgents -- which include inviting the extremists to peace talks later this year.
Opening the 70-nation conference, Karzai said Afghanistan and its Western supporters must "reach out to all of our countrymen, especially our disenchanted brothers who are not part of Al-Qaeda".
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the London meeting marked "the beginning of the transition process" under which responsibility for security will gradually be transferred to Afghan control.
This was reiterated in the draft communique, seen by AFP but subject to change before the final declaration, which said Afghan forces will take control of security "as rapidly as possible".
Some provinces could move to local control "by late 2010/early 2011", providing certain conditions are met, it adds.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also stressed that Afghans and extremists needed to understand the handover was "not an exit strategy".
The potent threat posed by the insurgency in Afghanistan was highlighted Thursday when a US soldier was killed in the south of the country, taking the total of foreign troops to lose their lives this year to 41.
The draft communique also welcomed Karzai's plans to offer what it called "an honourable place in society to those willing to renounce violence", which would involve giving jobs to lower-level Taliban fighters to give up arms through a fund believed to be worth around 500 million dollars.
In his opening address, Karzai said he would establish a national council for peace, reconciliation and reintegration and call a "peace jirga", or traditional gathering of Afghans.
His deputy spokesman Hamid Elmi told AFP the Taliban would "definitely" be invited to the jirga.
Karzai also called for Saudi King Abdullah to play a role, adding: "We ask all neighbours, particularly Pakistan, to support our peace and reconciliation endeavours."
Afghanistan accuses neighbouring Pakistan of sheltering Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants who have been fighting his government -- and attacking the international forces that support it -- for nearly eight years.
Iran was the most notable absentee from the conference, with Britain accusing Tehran of missing an opportunity to play a constructive role.
The United Nations mission in Afghanistan welcomed the conference's focus on peace and reconciliation, but dozens of Afghan protesters outside the conference were less sure.
"We didn't go through all this war to have Taliban back," said Tahmina Yousofi, a 32-year-old doctor who left Afghanistan three years ago.
"We are ready to fight all the Taliban all our lives but not to live in peace under the Taliban."
The Afghan president wants to shore up foreign backing for his troubled presidency, promising to let international experts in for an effective corruption audit, according to the draft conclusions.
NATO countries led by the United States are under domestic pressure to bring troops home.
The NATO-led force fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan is due to rise to 150,000 by the end of the year, but Karzai said earlier Thursday his country would need international help for at least another decade.
"With regard to training and equipping the Afghan security forces, five to 10 years will be enough," he told BBC radio.
"With regard to sustaining them until Afghanistan is financially able to provide for our forces, the time will be extended to 10 to 15 years."
Brown said international allies would help Afghanistan to grow its security forces to 300,000 by October 2011.
Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak told the meeting Afghanistan was committed to taking the lead but its lack of security manpower was still a "critical obstacle".
It would be a "strategic mistake" for international forces to leave the country too early, he said. The United States has indicated it wants to start drawing down its forces by 2011.
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