26,01,2010
by Nicolas Cheviron
AFP/File – Taliban fighters on a hillside at Maydan Shahr in Wardak province, Afghanistan. Afghan President Hamid …
ISTANBUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai won regional support on Tuesday for his efforts to cajole Islamist insurgents to lay down their arms, as Germany offered more troops and cash for the ravaged nation.
After talks with his Turkish and Pakistani peers, as well as officials from countries such as China, Iran and Russia, Karzai described moderate Taliban fighters as "sons of the Afghan soil" who should be brought back into the fold.
And in a joint statement after the meeting in Istanbul, the participants declared that they "support the Afghan national process of reconciliation and reintegration ... in a way that is Afghan-led and -driven."
The Turkish-hosted talks form part of the build-up to a major conference in London on Thursday where Karzai hopes to secure Western support for his strategy of wooing Taliban fighters with the lure of jobs and money.
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