War Plan For Karzai: Reach Out To Taliban.

Afghanistan's president declared Thursday that reaching out to the Taliban's leadership would be a centerpiece of his plan to end the eight-year-old war in his country, setting in motion a risky diplomatic gambit that could aggravate frictions with the United States. A 65-nation conference here intended to muster money and support for an Afghan war strategy instead exposed divisions between the Afghan government and its allies over the timetable for drawing down foreign forces and whether and how to reconcile with the leaders of the Taliban insurgency. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]