LONDON - Afghanistan's president said Monday that the West, once resistant to reconciliation with the Taliban, now backed his plan to persuade some militants to lay down their weapons. The assertion came ahead of an international conference on Afghanistan that Britain's leader said would pledge funding for the Afghan peace plan, despite concerns about state corruption and weak authority.
Britain will host talks in London on Thursday to consider future military and political strategy in Afghanistan, including the Afghan government's proposal to pay some Taliban fighters to return to mainstream society.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told reporters it is "right to believe that over the long term we can split the Taliban" and encourage many of those waging war against international troops to stop.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai, speaking in Turkey, said the U.S. and Europe back his plan to reconcile militants who are not aligned with al-Qaida or other terrorist groups.
British officials said that international funding for Karzai's program is expected to be agreed at the London meeting, but did not offer specifics on the likely amount to be pledged.
If the Afghan government "can bring over some people previously associated with the Taliban by the renunciation of violence, this would be of value to the peace process," Brown told a news conference.
Amid likely public concern over offers of funds to those currently in combat with foreign troops, Brown said that only those committed to peace would get money. "They have to renounce violence and be part of the democratic process," he said.
Karzai, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and delegates from about 70 countries are attending the London talks to discuss rapidly increasing the size of the Afghan police force and army.
British officials said they hope the talks also will produce a tentative timetable for NATO and the U.S. to hand over security to local forces.
Karzai said he will seek support for his reconciliation plan, and press for the removal of some Taliban figures from a U.N. sanctions list, which imposes punitive measures such as a travel ban and assets freeze on individuals.
"In the past, this effort by the Afghan government did not have the backing or the support of our international partners," Karzai said at a news conference, referring to the plan to woo militants. "This current effort, this renewed effort, has the backing of our partners, in particular the United States and Europe."
Speaking in London, U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary William Lynn said reconciliation would complement military advances since an influx of 37,000 foreign troops. "A critical component here is to reverse the momentum of the Taliban on the ground in Afghanistan," Lynn told a meeting at the House of Commons.
European foreign ministers meeting in Brussels said Karzai must use the London conference to assure the international community his government can bolster basic services.
EU's foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, urged Karzai to pledge improvements to security, education, health care and "all the things that help create a normal and stable society." The London talks are "an important moment" in the debate over whether the Afghan leader's government can succeed, she said.
Following the Brussels meeting, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said he would pressure Karzai to rescind the appointment as army chief of staff of Gen. Abdul Rashid Dostum, a warlord accused of overseeing the suffocation deaths of up to 2,000 Taliban prisoners during the 2001 U.S.-led invasion.
Witnesses have claimed that Dostum's forces placed Taliban prisoners in sealed cargo containers and suffocated them to death before burying them en masse, according to a U.S. State Department report. Dostum denies involvement in the deaths.
