Afghan President Hamid Karzai is pressing for Taliban names to be removed from a United Nations blacklist imposing travel restrictions and asset freezes.

He says his Western allies back his plans for reconciliation with those Taliban members who are not allied with Al Qaeda and who renounce violence.

"[They should be] welcome to come back to their country, lay down arms and resume life as citizens of Afghanistan, enjoying the privileges and the rights and the guarantees given by the Afghan constitution," Mr Karzai said.

He will attend a major conference in London on Thursday at which he hopes to win Western support for his plan to offer money and jobs to cajole Taliban fighters into laying down arms.

Mr Karzai's plan had previously met resistance but he says "there is more willingness that this can be reconsidered".

He wants to bring low- and mid-level fighters into mainstream society to end the gruelling insurgency.

However the leadership of Islamist insurgent groups active in the battered country remains hostile to negotiations.

The NATO military commander in Afghanistan, US General Stanley McChrystal, has voiced support for negotiating a truce.

"As a soldier, my personal feeling is that there's been enough fighting," General McChrystal told Britain's Financial Times.

"I believe that a political solution to all conflicts is the inevitable outcome, and it's the right outcome."

Mr Karzai is currently in Istanbul for talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, to be followed by a meeting with leaders of his country's neighbours.

Relations between Kabul and Islamabad became strained as extremists who fled the US-led ouster of Afghanistan's Taliban regime in late 2001 found a safe haven in Pakistan's north-western tribal regions.

Afghanistan claims much of its insurgent violence is planned in Pakistan, and has accused its neighbour of not doing enough to curb the militants.

Afghan and US officials suspect Pakistan's powerful military is sponsoring the Taliban in preparation for when US troops leave, so Islamabad can influence a Taliban government and offset regional superpower India.

Under a plan announced by US President Barack Obama in December, 30,000 US troops will go to Afghanistan this year, on top of more than 70,000 already there.

A US withdrawal will begin in July 2011.

- AFP