British plan to train former Taliban angers Afghans

London: Britain's troubled relations with Afghanistan's government worsened still further on Monday when it was disclosed that London secretly planned to build training camps for former Taliban fighters.

The Afghan authorities denied any knowledge of the scheme to rehabilitate gunmen who have defected from the Taliban in Helmand province.

Officials claimed this was another example of Britain undermining President Hamid Karzai's authority.

Two Western diplomats, one working for the United Nations and the other serving the European Union, were asked to leave Afghanistan in December after they allegedly held direct talks with Taliban commanders without Karzai's official permission.

Afghan officials said the two men, Mervyn Patterson, a Briton, and Michael Semple, an Irishman, were found with documents laying out a British plan for dealing with ex-Taliban fighters.

A key element of this scheme was building a camp for perhaps 2,000 former members of the militant Islamist movement. There, they would have been given new skills to aid their rehabilitation.

The Afghan sources say this would have included military training - a risky step given the possibility that these men could return to fighting alongside the Taliban.

Conspiracy theories have spread in Kabul suggesting that Britain was plotting to depose Karzai. British sources say Afghan officials have misrepresented many of the plan's details. British officials classify Taliban into three tiers.

They believe the middle and lower level leaders can be rehabilitated.