U.S. holds out olive branch to 'moderate' Taliban

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.
yahoo

We just take their word for it that they "Renounce Violence" ?