Afghanistan War News Updates -- January 4, 2011

Photo: ISAF Force Reintegration Cell

A Year In, Amnesty Deal Lures Only 3 Percent Of Taliban -- The Danger Room

The White House says the best chance to end the Afghanistan war is to compel low-ranking insurgents to lay down their guns, one at a time. But at the rate this so-called reintegration project is going, it could take as long as a decade to bring the fighters in from the cold.

Fewer than 800 insurgents have signed up in the year since Afghan president Hamid Karzai announced the plan. That’s less than 3 percent of an estimated 30,000 or so militants. And most of those fighters come from the calmer parts of the country, says British Maj. Gen. Phil Jones, the NATO official in charge of enticing low-ranking insurgents not to fight. Very few of them have actually finished a 90-day “demobilization” process — after which the hard work of keeping them out of the war begins.

Read more ....

More News On Afghanistan

NATO: No Pause in Afghan Winter Fighting -- Voice of America
Violence in Afghanistan 'had to get worst before it gets better' -- The Telegraph
Afghan violence 'had to get worse to get better' -- AFP
Policeman killed in Afghan capital -- AFP
Bomb in bag explodes in Kabul, kills policeman -- Reuters
Four shot dead in Afghan mosque attack -- ABC News Online (Australia)

U.S. Marines report peace deal with tribe in Afghan hot spot -- Miami Herald/McClatchy News
Afghanistan hopes tribal uprising will bring peace -- The Guardian
Tribal elders pledge to remove IEDs and foreign militants in exchange for aid in deal that boosts Afghanistan peace hope -- The Daily Mail
Afghanistan: Sangin insurgents agree to stand up to Taliban -- The Telegraph

Afghanistan's Karzai complains about interference -- Washington Post/AP
Karzai spokesman to resign -- Washington Post
Karzai's spokesman resigns -- Asia One News/AFP

Obama national security aide visits Afghanistan -- USA Today
Fleeing Violent Husbands Puts Afghan Women in Jail -- Time Magazine
In Afghan hands, aid projects neglected -- Washington Post
U.S.-funded infrastructure deteriorates once under Afghan control, report says -- Washington Post
US Faces Uphill Battle in Stopping Afghan Drug Trade -- Epoch Times
Putting Some Fight Into Our Friends: There’s a way out of Afghanistan, and it’s not by winning more hearts and minds. -- Bing West, Newsweek