Holbrooke: Afghan peace outreach to gain steam

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative to Pakistan and Afghanistan, listens to a question during a joint news conference with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at Pakistan's foreign ministry in Islamabad June 19, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai's push to win over Taliban fighters should gain traction at an international conference next week as donors begin providing funds to lure them off the battlefield, a senior U.S. official said on Wednesday.

Richard Holbrooke said the July 20-21 Kabul Conference, which will draw many foreign ministers including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, will discuss the so-called re-integration program. Both Karzai and Washington hope it may open the door to an eventual political solution for the war-torn country.

"The money is starting to come in. This will be a major focus of the conference," said Holbrooke, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

He said foreign contributions to finance re-integration were already at about $180 million. The U.S. Defense Department has reserved an additional $100 million for the program.

Karzai recently gave final approval for the program, meaning that funds can begin to flow.

"We talked about this a long time...(but) this is the real launch date. This is the announcement the program its now assembled and ready to go," Holbrooke told a news briefing.

U.S. officials distinguish between Taliban foot soldiers, many of whom may be motivated by economic concerns rather than ideology, and higher rank figures who sheltered al Qaeda before the September 11 attacks.

But Holbrooke repeated that all those who meet certain conditions, including renouncing violence, cutting all ties to al Qaeda and abiding by Afghanistan's constitution, may find a place in the new Afghanistan.

"In every war of this sort there is always a window for people who want to come in from the cold," he said.

CASE-BY-CASE DELISTING

Holbrooke repeated that Washington was willing to consider Karzai's bid to remove certain former Taliban members from a U.N. blacklist -- another confidence-building move -- but this would only be done on a case-by-case basis.

"There are people on it who are dangerous threats to the United States and our allies and there are people on it who are active in movements who threaten to kill members of the coalition," he said.

Karzai's government on Tuesday denied U.S. media reports it had asked the United Nations to strip 50 names off the original list of 137, but indicated it might make a new request.

Holbrooke said the conference would assess Afghanistan's follow-up plans to improve security, governance and other issues seen as key to paving the way for the United States to begin removing some of its 100,000 troops by July 2011.

Afghanistan wants more control of billions of dollars pledged for reconstruction. But critics say the government has squandered millions in foreign aid and has not done enough to fight corruption.

Those concerns have sharpened U.S. debate about the already unpopular war as U.S. President Barack Obama's Democratic Party gears up for tough mid-term elections in November.

A key House of Representatives Democrat, Rep. Nita Lowey, last month froze some $3.9 billion in aid for Afghanistan, throwing fresh doubts over the future of Obama's six-month-old troop buildup.

Holbrooke, who sees civilian aid an essential part of U.S. strategy, said he did not view corruption as a "critical issue" because there were increasingly checks in place to ensure funds are spent properly.

"There's an assumption here that anything that goes to the government automatically disappears into a corrupt maze. That's not the case," Holbrooke said. "There's very good oversight."

He added that he was working with Lowey, who heads the House appropriations subcommittee on foreign aid, to ensure standards are met.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)