Afghan tribal elders and religious leaders agreed on Friday to make peace with the Taliban, handing President Hamid Karzai a mandate to open negotiations with the insurgents who are fighting foreign forces and his government.

Karzai had called the "peace jirga" to win national support for his plan to offer an amnesty, cash and job incentives to Taliban foot soldiers while arranging asylum for top figures in a second country and getting their names struck off a UN and US blacklist.

"Now the path is clear, the path that has been shown and chosen by you, we will go on that step-by-step and this path will Inshallah, take us to our destination," he told the delegates gathered in a tent under heavy security.

He urged the Taliban, who have virtually fought tens of thousands of US-led Nato forces and the Afghan army to a bloody stalemate, to stop fighting.