Karzai Urges Taliban Reconciliation

"We will invite all those Taliban who are not part of al-Qaeda, who are not part of terrorist networks, who want to return to their country ... to come back to their country," he said at a security conference in the German city of Munich on Sunday.

"I would request the international community to back us in this, fully, and be of one view on this, not of divided views," he said.

"There is no way that we can succeed in the way we want to, in the right time, without some form of reconciliation".

Call for support

The Afghan president called on world leaders attending the conference, including Joe Biden, the US vice-president; Nicholas Sarkozy, the French president; Angela Merkel, the German chancellor, and Nato members, to support his proposal.

Mark Seddon, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Munich, said: "There will be people here who say that the Taliban are engaged in terrorism, how can you talk to them?

"What is being talked about here in Munich is a strategy that gets everybody on board.

"But having listened to the German defence minister, the senior US personnel and the Afghan president, you get the impression they are some way from getting to an agreed strategy."

Widespread anger

Karzai's appeal comes in the wake of a string of attacks across Afghanistan by resurgent Taliban fighters.

Two US soldiers, an Afghan policeman and a translator were killed on Sunday when a roadside bomb they were trying to disarm in the southern province of Helmand exploded, the Afghan interior ministry said.

Hamish MacDonald, Al Jazeera's correspondent in the Afghan capital Kabul, said that Karzai's appeal to the Taliban at the Munich conference is the first such call to be made in front of key international allies.

"President Karzai has said this kind of thing before but he never gone in front of Nato and the United States and said 'look, this is the solution and the way forward'," he said.

"It is important to say that in the past the Taliban has responded to similar comments by Karzai by saying that it is not interested in reconciliation until foreign forces in Afghanistan leave the country. Clearly, that is not on the agenda at the moment."

Karzai also said his call had to be part of a larger peacemaking effort for Afghanistan and that foreign forces inside the country should do more to halt civilian casualties.

Civilian deaths caused by international military operations have caused widespread anger among Afghans.

US relationship

Karzai, who is due to take part in presidential elections in August, has seen his approval ratings damaged in the past months by the Taliban offensive, allegations of government corruption and an increase in Afghanistan's opium production.

The appeal by Karzai could be part of a strategy to shore up his flagging presidency and convince international partners that he is the best person to lead Afghanistan, MacDonald said.

"President Karzai is playing a very interesting game in terms of strategy; he is facing domestic political pressures, there is a election due in a few months time and he is haemorrhaging support internationally," he said.

"He seems to be out of favour with the Obama administration and other foreign leaders. It may be he is hoping that his comments [in Munich] will appeal to the US."

Washington, which is the biggest provider of both money and troops to Afghanistan, is expected to announce the deployment of 30,000 extra US soldiers to the country.