The United Nation has started issuing payments to former Taliban fighters who lay down their arms and join the government in the northern province of Kunduz, an official said Monday. "We have begun the registration of more than three hundred armed opposition who joined peace in different areas and pay them some amount of money," Abdul Raof Qazizada, an official with UN Development Programme's Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, said.
"It is temporarily and for a few months, to enable those who leave fighting in Kunduz to find a job and handle their problems," he said. Qazizada did not reveal the amount of money disbursed to the former insurgents, but a member of the Kunduz Peace Council, who requested anonymity, said the office pays a monthly salary of about 110 dollars to each defector.
Afghanistan, which has experienced a Taliban-led bloody insurgency since 2001, is pursuing efforts to bring mid-level Taliban leaders and fighters back into society. A high peace council was also established last year by President Hamid Karzai to talk with Taliban militants, who have repeatedly rejected negotiation and conditioned their acceptance on the withdrawal of all foreign troops from the country. Many Afghans say they joined the insurgency for mainly economic reasons.
"I was with the Taliban for two years. I had to work for them," said Ali Ahmad, one the Taliban commander who recently joined the Afghan government along with seven armed fighters from Ali Abad district. "There were no jobs and I joined the Taliban rank as a commander, which helped me survive." "When the government announced peace and promised assistance, me and my fighters came here and joined the peace process," Ahmad told reporters at the registration process. The commander, who fought against the Afghan government for two years, said that while he did not want to fight the government any more, he still faced serious economic problems.
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