U.S. holds out olive branch to non-violent Taliban

By Sue Pleming and David Brunnstrom

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - The United States offered Taliban fighters who renounce violence in Afghanistan an "honorable form of reconciliation" on Tuesday as part of a revamped strategy to tackle a deepening insurgency.

Traditional U.S. foe Iran, attending an international conference on Afghanistan, pledged help in tackling the huge opium trade in its neighbor but stressed it remained opposed to U.S. and other foreign troops there.

The conference in the Netherlands is a chance for NATO and other U.S. allies to consult on the Afghan strategy unveiled by President Barack Obama last week stressing the need to cooperate with regional players such as Iran, Pakistan, Russia and India.

"We must ... support efforts by the government of Afghanistan to separate the extremists of al Qaeda and the Taliban from those who have joined their ranks not out of conviction, but out of desperation," U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the conference in The Hague.

"They should be offered an honorable form of reconciliation and reintegration into a peaceful society, if they are willing to abandon violence, break with al Qaeda, and support the constitution," Clinton said.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai welcomed Obama's "fresh, strong and judicious leadership," but said his government should take the lead in approaches to the Taliban.

"The policy of reconciliation ... can succeed only if carried out under the aegis of the national institutions of Afghanistan," he warned.

Iran, which sent Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhoundzadeh to the talks, promised it would help fight drugs trafficking and in reconstruction projects.

"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country and it seems that an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective too," Akhoundzadeh said.

But he added: "Iran is fully prepared to participate in the projects aimed at combating drug trafficking and the plans in line with developing and reconstructing Afghanistan."

RUSSIA READY

Clinton and Akhoundzadeh were not due to hold substantive talks in the Hague, but not expected to avoid contact either.

Their joint presence was an easing the policy of the former Bush administration which stuck to a years-long stand-off over Tehran's nuclear program. The West suspects Iran wants a cover for the atom bomb, an aspiration it denies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov signaled a greater readiness by Moscow to help reconstruct Afghanistan.

"We need to combine the antiterrorist measures with the socio-economic measures to rebuild Afghanistan and in future Russia is quite ready to participate in that effort," he said.