The conference on Afghanistan can be marked as the signal of the end, a signal of surrender. The creation of a jobs fund is predicated on a 'materialist' interpretation of Taleban recruitment:
Officials believe that many young Afghan men in the south and east of the country join the Taleban because they have little else to do. They hope that the fund, which will be managed by President Karzai, will be used to offer them jobs as guards and in agriculture. They do not expect the money to be used for cash payments.
“The overwhelming majority of these people are not ideological supporters of Mullah Omar [the fugitive Taleban leader] and al-Qaeda,” Richard Holbrooke, the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said. “Based on interviews with prisoners, returnees, experts, there must be at least 70 per cent of these people who are not fighting for anything to do with those causes.”
We hand over funds to the man who rigged the Afghani election and presided over one of the most corrupt governments in the world. Karzai will fritter the money away and the Taleban will remain as big a problem in two years as they do now. And one wonders why we find that this doesn't work for the 'boys from the estate'. We may as well offer them passports.
Talks on political inclusion may sound like the way forward, but how does the acceptance of an Islamic state with the same people who fostered Al-Qaeda advance our cause. Their brand of nationalist tinged fundamentalism will remain more attractive than short-term 'jobs' as guards.
Time to leave Afghanistan, as the Western forces have proved themselves incapable of the flexibility and thinking required to defeat the enemy.