Pashtun tribes seen as key to Afghan peace

By Sayed Salahuddin

KABUL (Reuters) - Everyone agrees that ethnic Pashtun tribes along the Pakistani border are key to bringing an end to Afghanistan's war but no one seems to be able to agree on how the Pashtuns might unlock the door to peace.

Most members of the Taliban are Pashtun, Afghanistan's biggest ethnic group, and most Pashtuns live in the south and east where the Taliban insurgency is at its worst.

Pashtuns also live over the border in violence-plagued regions of northwest Pakistan, where they too are fiercely independent-minded, well-armed, conservative Muslims.

President Hamid Karzai, who is also Pashtun, has for several years called for revival of tribal militias to help fight the Taliban, supplying leaders with small arms and money.

But the proposal is bitterly opposed by many members of parliament, who say it would be a huge mistake that could easily backfire and end up helping the Taliban.

The Taliban insurgency has intensified as the number of foreign troops has gone up to 70,000 and U.S. military officials have conceded that the United States is not winning.

U.S. military leaders are also paying more attention to the tribes after some success in Iraq where the so-called Awakening Council movement began with Sunni tribesmen in western Iraq joining U.S. forces against al Qaeda militants.

The top commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan this week recommended a plan to stem the growing violence by empowering local leaders and promoting reconciliation.

But the commander, General David McKiernan, warned against empowering the tribes to fight the militants.

Despite that, Western countries with troops in Afghanistan were coming round to Karzai's idea of arming the tribes, the president's chief spokesman said.

"Now, our international friends move in this direction, that without their cooperation bringing security is difficult," the spokesman, Humayoun Hamidzada, said of the tribes.

HELPING THE TALIBAN

Supplied with arms and funds from Western powers, the militias could work with the government in areas such as protecting roads, Hamidzada said.

But member of parliament Ahmad Ali Jebrayeli said arming the tribes would be a mistake that would only fuel violence.

"Foreign troops have been here for seven years but the Taliban are getting stronger and stronger. Arming the tribes will further help the Taliban," he said, adding the armed forces had to be strengthened.