Paying Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan to lay down their arms is not a bribe but an investment in peace and reconciliation, NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said Thursday, DPA reported.
"I see it as an investment in reconciliation and in the end an investment in peace," he said in a video message ahead of a meeting of the alliance's defence ministers in Istanbul, Turkey.
A 500-million-dollar Peace and Reintegration Trust Fund was launched at an international conference on Afghanistan in London on January 28, with initial pledges of 140 million dollars.
According to Rasmussen, contributions so far have come "from Japan, Germany, Spain and Australia, with more to come."
The Japanese government pledged 50 million dollars; Australia pledged 22 million; Spain 14 million. And according to diplomatic sources, Germany offered 50 million euros (70 million dollars). Britain and the United States are also expected to come up with contributions.
Rasmussen insisted that "many of the insurgents are not in it for religious or ideological reasons" and "are not necessarily ideologically against the Afghan government or the international troops", but "they fight for the Taliban for small amounts of money simply to make a living, or for other grievances."
"What is being offered to them is a chance to choose a new path in their lives," Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister, said.
He stressed, however, that "certain important criteria have to be met", referring to the respect of the Afghan constitution, democracy and human rights principles and the necessity to leave the Afghan government in charge of the process.
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