http://www.uspolicy.be/Article.asp?ID=3C970698-E2D3-4A61-B956-F91CA723DD70
Stabilizing Afghanistan Common Challenge for America and Iran
No plans for formal U.S.-Iran talks at upcoming international
conferences
By David McKeeby
Staff Writer
Washington - In two conferences in March, American and Iranian diplomats
will focus on a shared challenge: making new progress on promoting
security and development in Afghanistan and the Pakistan border region.
"There are no plans for any substantive meetings with Iran," said State
Department spokesman Robert Wood on March 19, but he added that "it's
not unusual for U.S. and Iranian officials to cross paths during a
multilateral meeting, so I'm not going to rule anything in or rule
anything out."
Engaging Iran and stabilizing South Asia are among the Obama
administration's top foreign policy priorities. Both challenges are
subjects of comprehensive policy reviews by top White House advisers,
seeking to realize the president's goal of renewing American diplomacy.
"Iran is a country that has extraordinary people, extraordinary history
and traditions, but ... its actions over many years now have been
unhelpful when it comes to promoting peace and prosperity both in the
region and around the world," Obama said February 9 in a nationally
televised press conference. "In the coming months, we will be looking
for openings that can be created where we can start sitting across the
table, face to face, [with] diplomatic overtures that will allow us to
move our policy in a new direction." (See "Analysis: Will Iran Accept
America's "Open Hand"?)
As the Obama administration moves closer to completing its Afghanistan
strategy review, analysts have stressed the importance of working
closely with all of the nation's neighbors, including Iran, to help
eliminate terrorist safe havens, build effective governing institutions
and promote economic development.
Iran hosted millions of Afghan refugees during the 1990s, and its border
guards were targeted by Taliban forces in a series of deadly skirmishes.
While the United States and Iran have not had formal diplomatic
relations since 1980, Washington and Tehran coordinated efforts to
stabilize Afghanistan when a U.S.-led coalition toppled the Taliban
regime in 2001. Further U.S.-Iranian cooperation has been complicated by
the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program as well as
allegations that some Afghan militant groups may have received support
from elements within Iran.
As a parallel Iran policy review remains under way at the White House,
diplomats from Washington and Tehran will be attending two major
international events aimed at forging a new road ahead for the region.
Patrick Moon, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for South
and Central Asian affairs, will travel to Moscow for a March 27 meeting
of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) - a multilateral security
organization founded in 2001 and comprised of China, Kazakhstan,
Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Iran and Pakistan are observers in the organization, while Afghanistan
has attended group events as an SCO guest and in 2005 formed a contact
group to facilitate efforts by the group to contribute to Afghan
reconstruction and stability.
America's participation in the meeting is another step in the
administration's plan to consult broadly across the international
community on the challenges facing Afghanistan and Pakistan, Wood said.
"The reason why we think it's important to go to this conference is that
it's about Afghanistan and how the international community can try to
better the situation on the ground [and] better coordinate our
activities," Wood said. "Even though we're not a member, we're not an
observer, we think it's important."
On March 31, Secretary of State Clinton will attend an international
conference on Afghanistan sponsored by the United Nations in The Hague,
Netherlands. Clinton proposed the meeting earlier this month at a
gathering of NATO foreign ministers in Brussels, Belgium. (See "NATO
Agrees to Resume High-Level Ties with Russia.")
Iranian officials have said they would consider an invitation and are
willing to help in Afghanistan, but have yet to announce which officials
would travel from Tehran to the meeting.
"I will not rule out the fact that there could be some kind of a ... a
greeting of some type, but there's no plan, as far as I know, for there
to be a meeting between the two delegations," Wood said March 18. "This
conference is more than just the U.S. and Iran. It's about Afghanistan
and the situation in the region. And that's where we need to keep our
focus."
"This administration is interested in engaging Iran. We want to do that. But we also need to complete our review so that we can spell out for the international community … how we plan to go forward,” Wood said.
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