TALIBAN DEFECTORS REJOIN INSURGENCY
Nato trying to create false perception of winning them over

"... Nato plans to spend more than $1 billion over the next five years tempting Taleban foot soldiers to lay down their arms. But... those efforts could make matters worse by swelling the ranks of the insurgency, exacerbating village level feuds and fuelling government corruption.... Almost a quarter of the low-ranking Taleban commanders lured out of the insurgency in southern Afghanistan have rejoined the fight because of broken government promises and paltry rewards...

"A report by the Afghan NGO Safety Office, which provides independent security advice to charities across Afghanistan... warns charity staff to prepare for Nato’s withdrawal by late 2011. “We note that International military forces have made their withdrawal contingent on being able to demonstrate two key… conditions: a degraded armed opposition and an improved government security force. We assess... that there is an awareness neither of these conditions can be genuinely extant in time and so strategies to create the perception of them are being pursued instead.”

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/afghanistan/article7104508.ece