80 Taliban lay down weapons

At the ceremony in Herat the 80 men handed over their weapons and pledged to end their fight against the government.

Eighty Taliban militants have laid down their weapons and joined Afghanistan's police force, accepting a government amnesty aimed at ending a vicious insurgency, police said on Saturday.

In a ceremony at police headquarters in the eastern city of Herat, the 80 men handed over their weapons on Saturday and pledged to end their fight against the government, said Herat police chief Asmatullah Alizai.

"Negotiations have been going on with their commander Solaiman as we have been trying to absorb him into the government," he said, referring to Mula Solaiman, a former border guard commander who changed sides a number of times.

The decision by the 80 insurgents comes after President Hamid Karzai again offered an olive branch to Taliban fighters to reintegrate into Afghan society.

In a speech marking his inauguration Thursday for a second five-year term, Karzai pledged to call a "loya jirga", or inclusive national conference of political, tribal and religious leaders, to work towards peace.

The Taliban insurgency has intensified since the Islamist regime was pushed from power in a US-led invasion in late 2001, with more than 100,000 foreign troops fighting the militants under US and NATO command.

So far 8,340 Taliban have accepted the amnesty since Karzai established the Independent Reconciliation Council in 2005, a council official said.