U.S. to Invite Iran to Conference on Future of Afghanistan

President Barack Obama promised a new era of diplomacy with nations. Now, all indications point to that promise as much more than just lip service, as Iran has been invited to a high-level conference on the future of Afghanistan. The session was proposed by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the news almost daily due to the stunning change of pace that she’s brought to her position. The approach being taken by Obama and Clinton is intended to change the focus in the area to one that is nonmilitary in nature, with hopes of eroding the power of the Taliban in the region through a series of moves made in conjunction with neighboring countries.

Said Clinton, "The whole question about Afghanistan and Pakistan is one that we've given a great deal of thought to. It is clear that the border areas between the two countries are the real locus of a lot of the extremist activity. It's becoming obvious that Pakistan faces very serious internal threats, and that Afghanistan faces continuing external threats that emanate out of Pakistan." Clinton noted that Pakistan, in addition to Iran, would attend the upcoming conference.

While the news of Iran attending the conference is a bit shocking, given the erosion of diplomacy between that country and the U.S., this would not represent the first time that the two countries have cooperated on the issue of Afghanistan. Following the Sept. 11 attacks, the two countries discussed improving security in that region and in Iraq. Those talks, however, yielded few, if any, results.