BRUSSELS — The Obama administration moved closer Thursday to resuming diplomatic contact with Iran as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton proposed an international meeting on Afghanistan that could bring U.S. officials face to face with their longtime adversaries.
Clinton suggested that the United Nations host a meeting on Afghanistan on March 31 that would include “key regional and strategic countries,” as well as NATO members and other world powers and international groups.
In a speech to NATO members, she said that if her idea of a “big tent” gathering is accepted by international officials, “it is expected that Iran would be invited as a neighbor of Afghanistan.”
The Obama administration has been weighing for weeks how to make a long-promised diplomatic overture to Iran, repeatedly suggesting that they are interested in contacts with Tehran over their mutual interest in a more stable Afghanistan.
European officials said U.N. officials are expected to support the idea of the meeting, and some analysts said it would appeal to the Iranians as well.
“The Iranians will be delighted by this overture, as it is in keeping with their demand to be recognized by the Americans as a regional power,” said an analysis issued by the Stratfor consulting firm. It noted that the Iranians have argued that Afghanistan’s problems can’t be resolved without its help.
Bringing Iran to the table would mark a return to the cooperation between the United States and Iran that immediately followed the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when Iranian officials were instrumental in helping set up a new government in Kabul. But initially promising consultations between Tehran and Washington ended after then-President George W. Bush labeled Iran as part of an “axis of evil” in the 2002 State of the Union address.
“Iran borders Afghanistan,” Clinton told reporters traveling with her she flew to Belgium on Wednesday after meetings in the Middle East. “In the early days of the military efforts by the United States and our allies to go after the Taliban and al-Qaeda, Iran was consulting with our ambassador on a daily basis. Where it is appropriate and useful for the United States and others to see whether Iran can be constructive, that will be considered.”
U.S. officials have proposed that Kai Eide, the U.N. coordinator on Afghanistan, chair the meeting, and that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon give opening remarks. Officials in the Netherlands said they have been asked to provide facilities for the meeting, although U.S. officials said that issue was not yet settled.
The increasing likelihood of an opening arises as U.S. officials have spoken harshly about the Islamic regime. Some analysts said the Obama administration may be trying to calm fears among allies, including Israel and Persian Gulf countries, that a U.S.-Iranian detente could leave them potentially vulnerable.
While U.S. officials are laying plans for possible talks, there are signs that they are also braced for rejection. A senior U.S. official said this week that Clinton, trying to calm the fears of the United Arab Emirates, said in a private meeting that Iran may refuse the planned overture.
Also at the NATO meeting, Clinton called for the release of an Iranian-American journalist, Roxana Saberi, who has been held by Iranian authorities for a month for “gathering news illegally.” Her journalist’s license had lapsed.
“There is only one outcome to this, and that is for her to be released as soon as possible to her family in North Dakota,” Clinton said.
In Brussels, Clinton and other NATO foreign ministers agreed to restore the organization’s ties with Russia, after relations were suspended following Moscow’s incursion into Georgia.
The decision followed a commitment by the Obama administration to “reset” its relationship with Russia, which Clinton said did not mean that U.S. officials would drop disagreements with Moscow.
“We can and must find ways to work constructively with Russia where we share areas of common interest,” she said, naming Afghanistan, Iran and North Korea, along with nuclear-weapons controls, as areas where Russia’s help is needed.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
