In an interview with the New York Times aboard Air Force One, U.S. President Barack Obama said America was not winning the war in Afghanistan and that there may be opportunities to reach out to moderates in the Taliban. (CBC)

The United States is not winning the war in Afghanistan and there may be opportunities to reach out to moderates in the Taliban, U.S. President Barack Obama has told the New York Times.

In an interview done Friday and published Sunday, Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from hardliners in al-Qaeda in Iraq. In recent years, U.S. troops persuaded Sunni Muslim insurgents there to co-operate in some instances because they had been alienated by the tactics of al-Qaeda terrorists.

"There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region," Obama said. "But the situation in Afghanistan is, if anything, more complex."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said Sunday he welcomed Obama's consideration.

It "was good news because this has been the stand of the Afghan government," Karzai told a gymnasium full of Afghan women during a speech to commemorate International Women's Day.

Last October, both Afghanistan and Pakistan endorsed further negotiations with some elements of the hardline Islamic movement. At that time, the U.S. also conceded it would be "reaching out" to the more reasonable factions that make up the Taliban.

There are Taliban fighters who are beyond reconciliation — those who have joined with al-Qaeda, Karzai said. But he said talks should go forward "with those who are afraid to come back to their country, or who feel they have no choice but to stay with the Taliban for various reasons. They are welcome."

In the interview, Obama cautioned that Afghanistan is a less-governed region than Iraq with a history of fierce independence among tribes, and figuring all that out will be much more of a challenge.

Last month, Obama ordered 17,000 more troops to Afghanistan to bolster the record 38,000 American forces already in the country as the U.S. focuses its combat efforts there.

With files from the Associated Press