Britain must support "reconciliation" with insurgents in Afghanistan, a Birmingham MP who visited the war-torn country insisted yesterday, writes Jonathan Walker.

Richard Burden (Lab Northfield) welcomed British plans outlined by the Government to "split the Taliban" by pursuing peace agreements with insurgents.

The Foreign Office said Britain will help the Afghan government identify "mid-level commanders" who could be persuaded to stop fighting.

And Gordon Brown, the Prime Minister, revealed plans to support insurgents who could become "men and women of peace".

In a Commons announcement, Mr Brown said: "If they are prepared to renounce violence and abide by the constitution and respect human rights, then there is a place for them in the legitimate society and economy of Afghanistan."

The statement was welcomed by Mr Burden, who last month visited Helmand province, where British troops are fighting Taliban guerillas. The MP was in Afghanistan for a week in his role as a member of the Commons International Development Committee.

He said last night: "There is a tendency to assume that all insurgents are members of the Taliban, and to see the insurgency and the Taliban as one monolithic organisation.

"In fact, there is a whole range of different people involved. Some are hard-liners and they are not interested in reconciliation.

"But others are involved because of local disputes or other issues which can be solved, and it would be foolish not to recognise that."

The Prime Minister told the Commons that international forces were winning the struggle against the Taliban.

He said he backed efforts by President Hamid Karzai to offer a place in legitimate Afghan society to those insurgents who give up violence and accept the constitution.

But he stressed there would be no negotiations with the senior Taliban leadership responsible for orchestrating the insurgency.

He said: "I make it clear that we will not enter into any negotiations with these people. Our objective is to root out those preaching and practising violence and murder in support of men and women of peace.

"We will support the government in their efforts to reconcile all parties to Afghanistan's democratic constitution"

Government sources said the Taliban leadership was made up of about a dozen senior commanders who met from time to time in the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The Afghan government's efforts were aimed mainly at the middle-level commanders - the so-called "tier two Taliban" - who it was seeking to persuade to break away for the insurgency with their followers.

Tory leader David Cameron warned there was a danger the "high hopes" which had been raised among ordinary Afghans would be disappointed.