ISTANBUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Monday he would press for Taliban names to be removed from a UN blacklist, as he sought support for his country in talks with the leaders of Pakistan and Turkey. Karzai said he would ask for the names to be scratched at a major conference in London Thursday at which he hoped to win Western support for a plan to offer money and jobs to cajole Taliban fighters into laying down arms.“I will be making a statement at the conference in London to the effect of removing Taliban names from the UN sanctions list,' Karzai told reporters in Istanbul.
The idea had previously met resistance but “as we are talking today, there is more willingness that this can be reconsidered,' he said.
The move is seen as a step towards persuading militants to accept peace talks. Karzai wants to bring low- and mid-level fighters into mainstream society to end the gruelling insurgency but the leadership of Islamist insurgent groups active in the battered country is hostile to negotiations.
The NATO military commander in Afghanistan has also voiced support for negotiated peace.
“As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting,' US General Stanley McChrystal said in an interview with Britain's Financial Times published Monday. “I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome. And it's the right outcome.'
Karzai was in Istanbul for talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari on Monday to be following by a meeting with leaders of his country's neighbours on Tuesday. It was the fourth round of Turkish-sponsored fence-mending talks between the presidents of Afghanistan and Pakistan since 2007, with Ankara pushing the two neighbours to enhance cooperation against Islamist insurgents.
Monday's meeting was also attended by Pakistan and Afghan military and intelligence chiefs, and in a joint declaration afterwards both parties stressed cooperation between their security forces and intelligence agencies.
Turkish President Abdullah Gul said Ankara would be ready to contribute to efforts to persuade the Taliban to lay down arms. Turkey has about 1,700 soldiers in Afghanistan and takes part in reconstruction and training Afghan police.