McChrystal sees Taliban role in Afghan peace negotiations

Kabul: General Stanley McChrystal, the Nato commander in Afghanistan, has raised the prospect that his troop surge will lead to a negotiated peace with the Taliban.

General McChrystal will urge his allies to renew their commitment to his strategy at a conference in London this week.

In a Financial Times interview, he acknowledged growing scepticism about the war, but said he was poised to make "very demonstrably positive" progress this year as a result of the arrival of an extra 30,000 US troops.

By using the reinforcements to create an arc of secure territory stretching from the Taliban's southern heartlands to Kabul, General McChrystal aims to weaken the insurgency to the point where its leaders would accept some form of settlement with Afghanistan's government.

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," he said. "What I think we do is try to shape conditions which allow people to come to a truly equitable solution to how the Afghan people are governed." Asked if he would be content to see Taliban leaders in a future government in Kabul, he said: "I think any Afghans can play a role if they focus on the future, and not the past."

The remarks reveal the growing faith the US military is placing in the hope that a power-sharing arrangement can end the war, a possibility floated in Islamabad last week by Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, when he described the Taliban as part of Afghanistan's "political fabric".

A parliamentary election has been postponed from May to September, pleasing diplomats and domestic critics who want time to prevent a repeat of rampant fraud that marred the presidential vote last year.

General McChrystal's assessments have played a major role in shaping deliberations by President Barack Obama over Afghan policy.

— Financial Times