US and Iran open Afghanistan peace talks

IRANIAN and American officials have held their first talks about ending the war in Afghanistan amid signs that President Barack Obama’s efforts to thaw relations with Tehran are paying off.While television cameras focused on Obama in Washington during the unveiling of his strategy for Afghanistan last Friday, US and Iranian diplomats were holding a remarkable meeting in Moscow.The Russian initiative brought together Patrick Moon, the US diplomat in charge of south and central Asia, and Mehdi Akhundzadeh,Iran’s deputy foreign minister, as well as a British diplomat who has been acting as a mediator. “We’ve turned a page to have Iranians and Americans at the same table all discussing Afghanistan,” Sergei Lavrov, the Russian foreign minister, told delegates.A western official who attended the talks said:“For the first time in two years I’m optimistic about Afghanistan.”It followed Nato’s first official contact with Iran two weeks ago, when the Iranian ambassador visited Nato’s assistant secretary-general to discuss drugs and refugees. Friday’s meeting was held under the auspices of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a six-member regional security group including Russia, China and central Asian states, to discuss combating terrorism and drug trafficking in Afghanistan. Those present included Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and senior British diplomats.The US and Iranian officials spoke within minutes of each other. Akhundzadeh told delegates that narcotics represent a serious threat to the region and no country could fight the trade alone. He revealed that Iran seizes three tons of opium on its border every day. The United States and Iran have not had full diplomatic ties for almost three decades. “We see this as a very productive area for engagement in the future,” said an American official after the meeting. Akhundzadeh will travel to the Hague on Tuesday for a conference on Afghanistan, at which Washington hopes he will meet Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state.Iran has no love for the Taliban, which murdered a group of Iranian diplomats in 1998, but in recent years any animosity has been outweighed by Iranian concern over the proliferation of US bases in Afghanistan and the view that “my enemy’s enemy is my friend”.
Two years ago Nato troops in Afghanistan intercepted a convoy of weapons bound for the Taliban, apparently provided by Iran's Revolutionary Guard.“Tehran is happy to see the US bogged down in Afghanistan,” said a western official. “Our concern is to make sure they don’t start providing game-changing technology as they did in Iraq.”Tehran is known to be concerned about the opium trade, much of which passes through its territory. Intelligence sources say it has lost 2,000 soldiers in the past two years fighting drug gangs. Obama’s ultimate aim is to use these talks to persuade Iran to sit at the same table for negotiations about halting its uranium enrichment programme....
By Christina Lamb
To read more go to:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/middle_east/article5993094.ece
As in the days of Noah...