Washington, October 29
US President Barack Obama has signed a $680 billion Defence Appropriations Bill with one provision giving commanders the ability to pay Taliban members to switch sides, but some experts feel the programme may buy only temporary loyalty.

The payments to Taliban would be made under a Taliban reintegration provision under the Commander's Emergency Response Programme (CERP), which is now receiving $1.3 billion in the bill pay for military operations in the 2010 fiscal year, signed by Obama Wednesday.

The CERP funding is also intended for humanitarian relief and reconstruction projects at commanders' discretion.

The buyout idea, according to Senator Carl Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, is to separate local Taliban from their leaders, replicating a programme used to neutralise the insurgency against Americans in Iraq.

”Afghan leaders and our military say that local Taliban fighters are motivated largely by the need for a job or loyalty to the local leader who pays them and not by ideology or religious zeal," Levin said in a Senate floor speech on September 11.

They believe an effort to attract these fighters to the government's side could succeed, if they are offered security for themselves and their families, and if there is no penalty for previous activity against us."

The top commander in Afghanistan has backed the plan for the Taliban. "Most of the fighters we see in Afghanistan are Afghans, some with (a) foreign cadre with them," said Gen. Stanley McChrystal in a July 28 Los Angeles Times interview.

Most are not ideologically or even politically motivated, he said in the interview.

"Most are operating for pay; some are under a commanders charismatic leadership; some are frustrated with local leaders."

But Nicholas Schmidle, an expert on the Afghanistan-Pakistan region for the non-partisan New America Foundation, cited by CNN said that while the plan had a "reasonable chance for some success", the old Afghan saying - "You can rent an Afghan, but you can't buy him" - will eventually be borne out.

"So long as the Americans are keenly aware of this, you're buying a very, very, very temporary allegiance," he said. "If that's the foundation for moving forward, it's a shaky foundation."

CNN security analyst Peter Bergen said the idea of paying off Taliban members to quit is nothing new. "There's been an amnesty programme for low-level Taliban in place for many years now and thousands of people have taken advantage of it," he said. — IANS

Islamabad, October 29
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Thursday praised Pakistan's offensive against the Taliban and Al-Qaida near the Afghan border, saying "this is a fight that has to be won".

Speaking at the prestigious Government College University in the eastern city of Lahore, Clinton said militants were "slowly but insidiously" gaining territory after undermining the government's writ.

The top US diplomat reached Lahore in the morning on the second leg of her three-day visit to the nuclear-armed Islamic republic."The terrorists are a small but deadly group who must be defeated," Clinton stressed.

She expressed confidence that the Pakistani security forces and the government would emerge successful against the scourge of terrorism.

Clinton's remarks came as rescue teams cleared the rubble at a market in the north-western city of Peshawar, where a car bomb killed 106 persons and wounded over 200 on Wednesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the strike, but suspicion has fallen on the Taliban militants in the South Waziristan tribal district, where 30,000 troops are taking on thousands of hardcore insurgents.

In Lahore, Clinton also visited the historic Badshahi mosque and the adjacent Mughal-era Lahore Fort, besides signing the guest book at the mausoleum of Pakistan's national poet Allama Mohammad Iqbal.

The former First Lady was scheduled to meet Pakistan's main opposition leader and two-time Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and hold meetings with businessmen.

Before leaving for Lahore, she visited a revered shrine located just a few kilometres from the US embassy in Islamabad. — DPA

Washington, October 29
The United States and India must agree on three vital security issues to ensure that their relations continue to deepen - terrorism, Kashmir, and the balance of power in Asia - a leading US South Asia expert has suggested.

“Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's forthcoming state visit to Washington offers the Obama administration a splendid opportunity to engage on these issues,” writes Ashley J. Tellis, a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

President Barack Obama could “also focus on the US priorities of climate change, non-proliferation, and economic and defence cooperation,” writes Tellis in a policy brief in the run up to Manmohan Singh's first upcoming state visit on November 24.

“The success and durability of the partnership between India and the US will depend on it,” he said, noting that “the US-India relations are off to a strong start under President Obama following an unprecedented strengthening during the Bush administration”.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton scored high points on her visit to India in July, emphasising economic and social development, and making a number of symbolic gestures to reaffirm India's importance to the Obama administration, he noted. — IANS

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had decided to appoint an expert panel to verify the facts behind the allegations against his government in the report submitted by the US State Department to the US Congress on October 22, which details several cases of human rights violations. “The government is once again creating a smokescreen inquiry to avoid accountability for abuses,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch.