ISTANBUL (AFP) -– Afghan President Hamid Karzai tried Tuesday to shore up international backing for efforts to cajole Islamist insurgents to lay down their arms, as Germany offered more troops and cash for the ravaged nation.

Karzai was meeting regional leaders in Istanbul for talks also attended by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband.
They form part of the build-up to a conference in London on Thursday where Karzai hopes for Western support for his strategy of wooing Taliban fighters with the lure of jobs and money.
That strategy appears to have won the support of Germany, whose Chancellor Angela Merkel announced Tuesday that her government would ask parliament for another 500 troops for Afghanistan.
Merkel said the hike was part of a “completely new” approach to cooperating with the Afghan government aimed at enabling Kabul to take responsibility for security as soon as possible.
She said Berlin would also provide 50 million euros (70 million dollars) to a 500-million-dollar global fund to bring insurgents into the mainstream and roughly double development aid to 430 million euros.
Berlin currently has about 4,300 troops in Afghanistan. Merkel's government wants to increase that by 500 as well as offering 350 reservists who could be deployed for a limited period.
Tuesday's gathering follows Turkish-sponsored talks Monday between Karzai and Zardari aimed at pushing the fractious neighbors to enhance cooperation against Islamist extremists.
Afterwards, Karzai said he would appeal at Thursday's conference in London for Taliban names to be removed from a UN blacklist.
Focus: Taliban unmoved by talk of peace overtures The idea had previously met resistance but “as we are talking today, there is more willingness that this can be reconsidered,” he said.