The Obama Administration today said it supports the concept of reintegration of the Taliban and welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai's plan of a grand peace 'jirga' in the coming months.
"We actually support and discussed yesterday during the Afghanistan conference the concept of reintegration, and we are very gratified that there has been a fund put together," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs P J Crowley said, adding that Japan has made a significant contribution to that.
"So this is fully consistent with our strategy of trying to build up capacity within the Afghan Government and provide it resources so that we can begin to peel away the foot soldiers who we think are not ideologically committed to this. It may well be something simple, like the Taliban for the moment is paying better than the Afghan Government," Crowley said.
Observing that the Taliban is a kind of mixed grouping of disparate elements, Crowley said the US thinks there can be an opportunity through a political process, one that is Afghan led, to try to see who among these leaders are willing to make a fundamental change in their approach.
"We will support this," he said.
Crowley welcomed the plan of Afghan President Hamid Karzai of a grand peace jirga in the coming months.