Shinwari tribal elders meeting this week in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, established harsh penalties against Taliban sympathizers. Adam Ferguson for The New York TimesAfghan Tribe to Fight Taliban in Return for Aid From U.S. -- New York Times
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — The leaders of one of the largest Pashtun tribes in a Taliban stronghold said Wednesday that they had agreed to support the American-backed government, battle insurgents and burn down the home of any Afghan who harbored Taliban guerrillas.
Elders from the Shinwari tribe, which represents about 400,000 people in eastern Afghanistan, also pledged to send at least one military-age male in each family to the Afghan Army or the police in the event of a Taliban attack.
In exchange for their support, American commanders agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government, which is widely seen as corrupt.
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My Comment: This is an interesting scenario that has great potential in Afghanistan. We have one large Pashtun tribe who wants to make a deal with another tribe .... but the other tribe is the U.S. military.
It is no surprise that American commanders immediately agreed to channel $1 million in development projects directly to the tribal leaders and bypass the local Afghan government. being on the ground they know a good opportunity when they see one.
On a side note, there are over 400 "tribes" in Afghanistan .... something tells me that the focus will now be to co-opt these groups/tribes to support us .... a scenario that did work in Iraq, and I can only hope will work in Afghanistan.
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