NATO officials say reintegrating insurgents is still in its infancy, with only four or five groups of fighters disarmed and contact with 25 other small groups, many only loosely tied to the Taleban militants.

But the idea of negotiating with insurgents on all levels is gaining ground as US President Barack Obama and NATO allies come under pressure over mounting casualties in a war many Western officials believe can’t be won on the battlefield alone.

“In an insurgency as fragmented as this you really need to start at all levels,” Maj. Gen. Philip Jones, head of NATO’s reintegration program, told Reuters.

“We believe there is a considerable market out there for it, but creating the conditions is extraordinarily difficult.” In one fledgling demobilization, one Afghan insurgent and his band of fighters in northwest Badghis offering to turn in their rockets and rifles last month, hoping to escape violence and obtain foreign aid for farms and a school.

NATO hopes the program may eventually swell to help turn the tide against Taleban militants, but it also underscores the complexities Western forces face taking, and keeping, Afghan fighters out of a conflict now in its tenth year.

Officials acknowledge they still must convince fighters about their security, overcome mistrust and navigate the complex local grievances and alliances motivating them to take up arms against almost 150,000 foreign troops and Afghan authorities.

Skeptics warn about problems of similar demobilization programs run by the Afghan government in the past, which achieved limited success after failing to deliver on promises of development, misreading insurgent motives or simply even checking whether participants were actually Taleban fighters.

“The government is making a mistake,” said Hasti Mohammad, a tribal elder from Kandahar province, an insurgent stronghold. “The Taleban will never sell themselves, they are conducting an ideological war, whether they are senior or junior.”

Backed by US and Japanese financing, the renewed effort sees local leaders mediating with insurgents. Fighters renouncing violence are vetted and then join communities in job training, literacy programs and development projects.

Former fighters can keep their personal weapons and some sign up for local self-defense groups, a contested idea critics say will only result in militias and destabilized communities.

“The intention is to listen to disenfranchised communities and local Taleban commanders,” said Baryalai Helali, an Afghan spokesman for the program. “We are in the initial stages.” NATO officials say demobilizations so far has been small, local, more akin to “outlaws than true insurgents,” and mainly in the west and north, far from the Taleban stronghold in the south where US troops are engaged in a campaign to oust insurgents.

Last month, 80 fighters associated with a low-level Taleban commander ended their fight in Badghis in what NATO officials say is a case of demobilization working because those fighters were guided back to their communities.

Other cases have been less clear cut, illustrating the difficulties in keeping fighters out of the conflict.

Six months ago, a group of Hezb-i-Islami fighters sought talks but only after losing battles with rival Taleban in Baghlan province. Negotiating their return means dealing with village elders often aligned with different insurgent groups.

Last week, a group of 60 insurgents in northern Kunduz province entered negotiations with the local government. While their commander is a known insurgent, NATO officials are still uncertain about his band of fighters.

Those issues, analysts say, risk undermining reintegration if the Afghan government fails to deliver on promises and addresses grievances such as justice and widespread corruption. Fighters can slip back into the war if they have no guarantee of security.

“A well-executed reintegration scheme could have positive social, economic and stabilization benefits and thus reduce the force of the insurgency,” said analyst Matt Waldman in a report with the Afghanistan Analysts Network.

“But if mishandled, it could actually do the reverse.” Taleban leaders themselves have already dismissed the negotiations as propaganda and local Taleban commanders from provinces as disparate as northern Badghis and southern Helmand last week rejected any talk of peace.