Priority 6. Facilitate Afghan-led efforts toward political reconciliation.

Afghans cannot bring the insurgency to an end without political reconciliation—a process that begins to repair social divisions and permits at least some measure of peace, order and good government.

Canadian Objective for 2011: By 2011, we expect that national and provincial Afghan government initiatives will encourage political reconciliation, and receive timely support fromCanada.

There was little evidence during the quarter of any significant progress toward a national reconciliation in Afghanistan. Instead, persistent insecurity in much of Afghanistan—and the natural political preoccupations with forthcoming elections—tended to work against any introduction of the complex innovations and compromises that reconciliation would require. In these circumstances, Canada has focused on three dimensions of our reconciliation objective.

First, we have remained fully engaged with key regional players, encouraging governments to continue trying to facilitate contacts between the Afghan government and insurgent groups.

Second, we are supporting efforts, especially in Kandahar, to build confidence and capacity in local communities for future reconciliation attempts.

Third, Canada continued to support the newly opened Afghanistan Government Media and Information Centre in Kabul, enabling the Afghan government to communicate better with Afghans about reconciliation and other issues.

Ultimately, reconciliation will require Afghan leaders themselves to formulate a national reconciliation strategy, and to put in place a national agency to lead the execution of that strategy. While the Independent Directorate for Local Governance is increasingly a focus for coordinating local reconciliation efforts, a comprehensive national reconciliation strategy has yet to emerge.