Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\tPentagon not confirming any plans to halve US troops in Afghanistan by the election<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
The Pentagon is not expecting the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan to drop by half in the next three months.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n
\u201cAfter 2001, when some former Taliban attempted to join the \u2018new order,\u2019 they were persecuted and humiliated. And some who were just from Taliban areas were accused of being supporters and attacked and driven out of their land,\u201d said Patricia Gossman, Associate Asia director of the Human Rights Watch. \u201cMany eventually joined the insurgency.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gossman said unless a strategy is devised and a system put in place there is a danger that attacks on the tens of thousands of former fighters on both sides of the conflict could unravel a fragile peace process. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven the enormous amount of mistrust … old grievances can easily erupt into more violence,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, has denied that any released Taliban were arrested or attacked without cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, last month a government airstrike in western Herat killed 14 people when hundreds of elders had gathered to greet a returning Taliban figure newly freed from prison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe issue of reintegration will be a significant long-term policy concern that endures long after reconciliation has been achieved,\u201d said Michael Kugelman, Asia Program deputy director at the U.S.-based Wilson Center. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe ideal system \u2014 and it\u2019s unclear if the Afghan state has the capacity to bring it about \u2014 is one that provides former fighters with the tools and skills to be productive off the battlefield, and that gives the state and the economy the incentives and resources to support them,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Associated Press writer Tameem Akhgar in Kabul contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n