Afghan President Hamid Karzai has opened a meeting of tribal¹ delegates in Kabul to discuss persuading Taliban fighters to lay down their arms.

阿富汗总统哈米德·卡尔扎伊与各部落代表在首都喀布尔举行商谈，讨论如何劝导塔利班武装人员放下武器。

He is aiming to use the three-day "peace jirga（族长会议） " to enlist² support for his plan to offer economic incentives³（经济诱因） to reformed militants⁵.

Taliban chiefs have dismissed（摒弃，解散） the talks and threatened delegates with death.

The sound of explosions and gunfire some distance away interrupted Mr Karzai's opening speech.

"Someone is trying with a rocket perhaps... Don't worry about it, let's proceed," he told the delegates.

The Taliban have been waging a nine-year battle to overthrow⁶ the US-backed government and expel（驱逐，开除） the 130,000 foreign troops there.

Traditional solution

Up to 1,600 delegates - including tribal elders, religious leaders and members of parliament from all over the country - have convened⁷（集合，召唤） in a giant tent at a university in Kabul for the traditional meeting.

But they are far outnumbered by the 12,000 security personnel guarding against any Taliban attack.

The BBC's Martin Patience in Kabul says one of the aims of the jirga is to bolster⁸（支持） the position of President Karzai but there is also growing realisation in Afghanistan and the West that to end the conflict will mean reaching some sort of arrangement with the Taliban.

The jirga is due to finish late on Friday, with a declaration expected on what steps should be taken to end the insurgency⁹（叛乱，暴动） , which groups should be included in the process, and how they should be approached.

President Karzai has proposed offering an amnesty（大赦，特赦） and reintegration incentives to low-level Taliban who accept the constitution.

He has also offered to negotiate the removal of some Taliban from a UN blacklist, and to give certain leaders asylum¹⁰（庇护） in another Islamic country for the purpose of holding peace talks.

On the eve of the conference, the Taliban issued a statement saying that the jirga did not represent the Afghan people and was aimed at securing the interest of foreigners.

Another insurgent¹¹（叛乱者） group, Hizb-i-Islami, led by ex-Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, called the conference a "useless exercise".

"The participants of the jirga are state favourites," said a statement released by the group. "They have no power of decision. It is only a consultative jirga - without any participation¹² of the mujahideen（圣战者） (resistance fighters)."

Both militant⁴ groups have refused to take part in peace talks as long as foreign troops remain in Afghanistan.

But the BBC's Paul Wood, in Kabul, says Nato believes that by addressing local grievances¹³（抱怨，不平） , many Taliban who fight close to their homes would switch sides, leaving the irreconcilables（不能调和的） and ideologues（思想家，理论家） still fighting.

Even as the jirga gets under way, Nato, US and Afghan forces are preparing their biggest offensive against the rebels in the southern province of Kandahar.

Foreign troop numbers are set to peak at 150,000 by August before US President Barack Obama starts a planned withdrawal¹⁴ of troops in July 2011.