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

Military operations by themselves cannot end the insurgency in Afghanistan. Peace will require active political reconciliation.

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

The onset of the summer fighting season and the concentration of politicians and activists on the August elections discouraged expectations of noteworthy initiatives in reconciliation through this period. Nevertheless, Canada was active in supporting Afghan-led reconciliation efforts. We continued to work with the Independent Directorate for Local Governance for the Kandahar rollout of the Afghanistan Social Outreach Program, which could become a potential vehicle for local-level reconciliation. In Kabul, Canada maintained support for the Afghanistan Government Media and Information Centre, a valuable instrument of public outreach on reconciliation and other issues. Canada also encouraged discussions among allied countries active in southern Afghanistan on how best to coordinate international support for reconciliation.