Afghanistan's neighbours gave their backing yesterday to plans to reconcile with Taliban insurgents two days ahead of an international conference to set a framework for handing security over to Afghan forces.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said late on Monday he would renew a call for removing Taliban leaders from a UN terrorist list. Senior US army chiefs have held out the possibility of eventual talks with the Taliban leadership to end a war now into its ninth year.

Ministers and officials from Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China, Tajikistan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were meeting in Istanbul to agree a common position before the London conference tomorrow.

"We reaffirm our strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and national unity of Afghanistan," they said in a statement.

"We support, therefore, the Afghan national process of reconciliation and reintegration in accordance with the Constitution of Afghanistan in a way that is Afghan-led and Afghan-driven," the statement said. The backing of Pakistan and Iran is significant as they both have been accused by US officials of covertly arming the Taliban and undermining peace. "I think the Pakistan government is in a completely different position than when I first went to Pakistan three years ago," British Foreign Minister David Miliband told reporters in Istanbul.

"We've moved from a finger-pointing blame game towards security cooperation." Mr Miliband said Pakistan's military was also on board. Low-level talks with the Taliban have been going on behind the scenes for years, analysts say, but there can be little progress while the insurgents believe they are winning the war.

Washington is sending an extra 30,000 troops to Afghanistan to persuade the Taliban that a military victory is not possible and force the hardline Islamists to negotiate in earnest.

Underlining the need for peace, a suicide car bomb near a US base in Kabul yesterday wounded six Afghan civilians. The Taliban have launched hundreds of suicide attacks in the last three years in order to convince Afghans that their government and its Western backers cannot bring security.

President Karzai is expected to present the 60 countries at the London conference with details of his plans to reach out to the Taliban.

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