Reintegration of Taliban Fighters in Afghanistan - Is it Really Working?

While the Karzai regime and the United States pursue high-level peace talks with the Taliban leadership the Afghan government is also continuing efforts on reintegrating lower-level members of the insurgency.  However, the reintegration program is being questioned by some observers who point out some problem areas. In the province of Helmand where much of the fighting has been over the past three years there have been very few reintegrees.  Many reintegrees have come from the north but critics say many of these supposed returned fighters are merely looking for a monthly paycheck and vocational training provided by the program.  Some of these "returnees" are cronies of corrupt district and provincial Afghan officials who pass out old AKs to local men (who are not insurgents) and tell them to turn themselves in to the government. Read more in "The truth about Taliban reintegration", The Telegraph, February 11, 2012.