19 March 2009
Stabilizing Afghanistan Common Challenge for America and Iran
No plans for formal U.S.-Iran talks at upcoming international conferences
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.
