Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on Taliban fighters on Saturday to lay down their arms as a massive military operation aimed at neutralising them in a major stronghold got underway. As 15,000 US-led troops descended on the Marjah district of southern Helmand province,controlled for years by Taliban militants,Karzai issued a statement calling on the Islamists to rejoin mainstream Afghan society. "President Karzai calls upon all Afghan Taliban to use this as an opportunity to renounce violence and re-integrate into civilian life alongside other Afghans for the welfare of their country," said a statement issued by his office. Karzai has referred to Taliban fighters as his "disenchanted brothers," believing that most are poor and unemployed men who fight for cash rather than for Islamist ideology. He wants Taliban infantry to leave the insurgency and take up jobs he has promised to provide as part of plans to bring development,aid and reform to the war-torn country. Operation Mushtarak,as the offensive on Marjah is called,is the first assault on a Taliban stronghold following US President Barack Obama's troop surge,sending an additional 30,000 soldiers to Afghanistan this year. The US and NATO already have 113,000 troops in the country battling the insurgents. NATO has pledged another 10,000,bringing the total to more than 150,000 by August.
