Holbrooke: 'Very Important' Taliban Re-Integration Program Unveiled In January Is Not Yet Operational

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, who serves as the special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan under the Obama administration, gave what can best be described as a cautiously optimistic assessment of U.S. operations in Afghanistan on Friday.

But in between dodging questions about military progress in the region, he let slip a status update on a key counterinsurgency operation that is bound to concern the skeptics. The program that the U.S. is funding to reintegrate reformed or disabused Talbin fighters, Holbrooke admitted, has so far reintegrated nobody. It was unveiled in January.

"General Petraeus and I have talked about this a lot because he went through something similar in Iraq and there are groups out there which switch allegiances," Holbrooke said, during an appearance at The Atlantic's Washington Ideas Forum. "They will fight against the foreigners and ally themselves with the foreigners. That also happened in Iraq.

"The distinction you made between reconcilable and irreconcilable is a well-known distinction. You can start with, 'O.K., they are irreconcilable, it is not possible to talk to them... then you go on to the other groups and you say well some of those are splintered internally...'

"Some local Taliban calls on the cell phone to a person who is a relative or a friend in a local area and says, 'You know we are tired of this war. We are going to come in from the cold.' This is the reintegration movement that President Karzai unveiled in January, in which we have reintegration, the Japanese and others are funding. It is a very important program."

At this point, the moderator, ABC News's Christiane Amanpour interjected. "How many has it brought in?" she asked.

"It is not yet operational," replied Holbrooke, "because the government of Afghanistan has not yet gotten it up and running."

Realizing that he had just provided a vivid illustration of the Afghanistan domestic political lethargy that has left U.S. observers wary, Holbrooke did his best to put a good spin on the matter. Petraeus, he noted, has up to $100 million in emergency funds to get this program operational and understands, from his time in Iraq, not only how critical reintegration is but how to make it work.

"This is a very important program," Holbrooke added. "Nobody can be satisfied with its current operation levels because we don't have in place, the Afghan government doesn't have in place yet, in every district in key areas, the people who are going to implement this program. The project, like everything in Afghanistan, is constrained by the circumstances of this tragic tormented country. And so this program, like any other program you talk about is not going to be where it should be."

Comments

[Yikes11]

01:34 PM on 10/01/2010

Wait, there is massive unemployment with no extension of benefits in sight, NO jobs, foreclosure rate at an all time high, food kitchens running out of food, etc. . . and the US is funding a reintegration of disabled Taliban fighters. You have got to be *f in kidding me.

[Beatriz09]

02:42 PM on 10/01/2010

lol ... read the article again, you'll see that it's a program that tries to convince DISABUSED (and not "disabled") Taliban fighters to join the official Afghan army or to reintegrate civil society.

In other words, instead of killing them this program tries to convince them to stop fighting. It has been a very effective program in Iraq, because there, just like in Afghanistan, part of the insurgents were simply fathers and sons who fought to have a salary and to be able to feed their family. As soon as they have another financial option, they are able to quit. Which is a mucher better AND cheaper solution to obtain peace than to try to kill them all, as troops do in a normal war. It's called "COIN": comprehensive insurgency strategy.

[Alexander2791]

10:32 PM on 10/01/2010

this is something that has been discussed even under Bush.....so I am surprised you have not heard about it. Clearly, this is the big black hole where our money goes thanks to the despair of the US military. I bet you that the Talibans will take the money , buy weapons and still fight the US + NATO.

[punk]

12:34 PM on 10/01/2010

Bwahahaha!!!

"Reintegrating the Taliban" L M F A O ! ! ! ! ! ! !

[Beatriz09]

02:45 PM on 10/01/2010

I hope you understood that this is about re-integrating in civil society ... ?

If you know that that's what this program is all about, why do you think that it's ridiculous?

It worked in Iraq to weaken the insurgency, and we already know that in certain Afghan villages people have no choice but to join the Taliban, for the moment. Others may have been convinced that the Taliban were right, but became discouraged by their actual way of functioning, etc. It's much more efficient to try to give those people an opportunity to survive in another way than to imagine that they're die-hards and that the only way to get rid of them is to kill them ... .

[Alexander2791]

10:33 PM on 10/01/2010

you have been fed BS and spin about Iraq!

[jwhite583]

12:01 PM on 10/01/2010

For more incite as why this reintegration plan is not likely to work check out this link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeremy-white/why-negotiating-with-the_b_745711.html

[NOTOGOP]

11:30 AM on 10/01/2010

Does that mean the pipeline isn't finished?

[R U Sirius]

11:10 AM on 10/01/2010

We're finally beginning to realize (I hope) how many cans of deadly worms we're going to be opening if we determine that it's necessary to pursue Al-Qaeda and Taliban-style terrorists into every rat hole they will undoubtedly infest over the next few decades. How many "spot" wars, on how many continents, and in how many Third World nations, can we sustain? Especially when our economy, infrastructure, and form of government continue on the verge of collapse?

[josaboeesq]

11:07 AM on 10/01/2010

I thought Ambassador Richard Holbrooke would have had this solved by now. I wonder if he has lost his touch from his Clinton days and the success he had at Dayton.

[Beatriz09]

02:47 PM on 10/01/2010

Really ... ?

Even Republicans like Petraeus and Lindsey Graham admit that under Bush the situation became only worse in Afghanistan, because the troops never had the ressources they needed and a real comprehensive strategy.

How could you imagine that what has become worse during 9 long years could suddenly be solved in some months only... ?

[racerx577]

11:01 AM on 10/01/2010

Ok we're pined down in Afghanistan. Our soldiers are being killed everyday along with civilians. $198000.00 per minute spent on Obamas Vietnam. FOR WHAT? I see this massive escalation coming on the heals of a peace agreement,,so typical ,,,Obama pickup the taliban hot line you have and stop the war today,, because you know,, IT'S OVER. So everyone killed now is for what reason???? Hillary you now have had your war also,,go back to your dog kennel. My goal one day is to imprison all you war criminals.

[Bude]

11:07 AM on 10/01/2010

Afghanistan is actually George Bush's Vietnam.

[jokerdanny]

11:35 AM on 10/01/2010

It's not a massive escalation. The generals wanted more troops, and they wanted them well before Obama was elected.