Istanbul: Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on 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 on 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 a recent interview with Britain`s Financial Times.
PTI
