McCully: We won't pay Taleban to give up arms

Murray McCully said the Government would support reintegrating Taleban fighters who were not deeply committed back into society. Photo / Mark Mitchell

New Zealand's Government has no plans to follow Australia, Britain and Japan in contributing to an international fund aimed at paying Taleban fighters to give up their guns in Afghanistan.

The fund was established last week at an international conference on Afghanistan and countries have already pledged about $200 million toward it.

Although Australia, Britain, Japan and South Korea have contributed, New Zealand Foreign Minister Murray McCully said New Zealand had no plans to do so.

The fund - proposed by Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai - would pay Taleban fighters to give up their arms, renounce al Qaeda and abide by the laws of Afghanistan. The payments were aimed at less committed fighters, who had joined the Taleban for financial reasons, and were to compensate for losing the pay they received from the Taleban. Mr Karzai estimated he would need $1.4 billion over three years.

Mr McCully said the Government would support reintegrating Taleban fighters who were not deeply committed back into society.

"But anything that involves significant amounts of money being used for reintegration needs to be looked at very carefully to make sure there are no funds travelling to people we would not wish to be supported."

Japan has pledged $70 million for the fund and the US has authorised its military to use funds to support the measure, although will not contribute directly to the fund. Australia has pledged $32 million, conditional on the fund being properly administered, and Britain has promised to contribute.

Japan's Foreign Minister, Tetsuro Fukuyama, said at the conference that he hoped other countries would contribute once the fund was set up and the arrangements for administering it were known.

Mr McCully said there was no request for New Zealand to contribute and he believed New Zealand resources were better spent in the Bamyan province, where the Provincial Reconstruction Team is working toward handing security and policing over to provincial authorities.

The proposal was agreed to by leaders as part of a broader reintegration plan, which set a tentative timeline of five years for Afghan troops to take over security.

Mr McCully returned from London yesterday and will travel to Australia on Tuesday for regular six-monthly talks with Australia's Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith. The talks are expected to include Fiji and progress on appointing new diplomatic representation in Suva. Fiji has nominated a member of its interim regime - Lieutenant Colonel Neumi Leweni - to represent it in Wellington, despite the travel ban. Mr McCully would not comment on the nomination process.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was also at the conference. Mr McCully said he had not had the chance to talk to her at length. He had not had any indication of when she might visit New Zealand after her planned trip in January was cancelled to allow her to concentrate on the earthquake in Haiti. He said she had given him a commitment that she would reschedule as soon as possible.