level meeting on Afghanistan Monday after the United States said it has no problem with its participation. The international “contact group” met in Rome amid a renewed push to end the nine-year-old war in Afghanistan, including bringing Taliban into peace talks. The group gathers the Afghan government, NATO, the EU, UN and other key players – including Iran this time – to assess progress in Afghanistan. Representatives attending the talks said Iran was invited as part of efforts to have a comprehensive approach and include regional players in the discussions over the future of Afghanistan. Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, said Washington was asked about possible Iranian involvement and responded it had no problem with it. He and other representatives stressed the talks are limited to Afghanistan and do not touch on the contentious issue of Tehran's nuclear dossier. “This is a meeting on Afghanistan and it is restricted to Afghanistan,” Holbrooke told reporters. “What we are discussing here is not affected by, nor will it affect, the bilateral issues that are discussed elsewhere regarding Iran.” Citing Iran's long border with Afghanistan and its problem of drugs and immigrants coming in from Afghanistan, Holbrooke said that Tehran “has a role to play in the peaceful settlement of the situation” and that “for the United States today there's no problem with their presence.” Iran sent its special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, Mohammed Ali Qanezadeh. The “contact group” also invited about a dozen representatives from countries in the Organization of Islamic Conference, as well as a representative of the group itself. Qanezadeh described the meeting as “fruitful,” and said Iran believes in a “regional” solution for Afghanistan, one supported by the international community. The biggest problems in Afghanistan for Iran, he said, are “insecurity, drug trafficking and the presence of foreign forces.” Getting regional players involved was stressed by delegates at the one-day talks. Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that “having at the border a cooperative Pakistan is essential to succeeding.” His Afghan counterpart, Zalmal Rassoul, said in closing remarks that “without support from our neighbors, we'll have difficulty achieving success on peace and security matters.” Other main topics of discussion were the transition process – or how to increase the assumption of responsibility for security by Afghan forces; and the process of reconciliation – or talks aimed at involving insurgents into the fold, including the Taliban. Commanding Gen. David Petraeus, who was attending the talks in Rome, said last week that coalition forces have allowed Taliban representatives to travel to Kabul for peace discussions with the Afghan government, although a Taliban spokesman has dismissed the talk as propaganda. In Kabul, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has said he has high hopes for a new peace council to negotiate with Taliban leaders he's been meeting, according to a statement released Saturday by his office.
