WASHINGTON, Oct 19: The United States wants Afghanistan to coax lower-level Taliban members away from their organization, US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad told a news briefing in Washington on Tuesday.

Mr Khalilzad, who said he has come to Washington to thank the Pentagon for making it possible to hold Saturday's historic presidential election, said winning over lower-level Taliban operatives will help end the insurgency in Afghanistan.

Mr Khalilzad said Taliban leaders should still be brought to justice and the military should press its fight to "finish off" the hard-liners. But he said voters' overwhelming rejection of violence in the country's first presidential vote had created an opportunity to lure lower-ranking Taliban members who could renounce violence back from the battlefields into civil life.

"All wars must come to an end at some point," said Mr Khalilzad, a US diplomat of Afghan origin who has been influential in shaping Afghanistan's government policy.

The US-led military campaign to prevent election attacks was successful in large part because Afghans provided intelligence on the Taliban in a clear sign of their rejection of the group, Mr Khalilzad said.

The US, he said, believed that it would take years for Afghanistan to become a successful democratic state in light of the insurgency, the country's rampant illegal drug trade and powerful warlords.

The US ambassador, who often blames Pakistan for Afghanistan's troubles, said there were still extremist and terrorist groups active along the border with Pakistan, that do not wish us well.