Afghanistan and Neighbors Discuss Close Cooperation

Iran absent from negotiations

By STEVEN ERLANGER
read the original article at the New York Times site>>

PARIS — Afghanistan and most of its neighbors agreed at an informal conference here on Sunday to work together to stabilize the country, restrict narcotics traffic and coordinate action against terrorist groups.

The conference of foreign ministers, organized by France, was aimed at shoring up regional relations in the interest of security and stability.

“There is a consensus that there can be no peace, security and prosperity in Afghanistan without the strong involvement of its neighbors,” the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, said after the meeting. “And there can be no peace, security and prosperity for the region without a stable Afghanistan.”

But the notable absence of Iran left a gaping hole in French hopes for the meeting. Though Iran had said its foreign minister would attend — then said no, then said yes and then said it would be represented by its ambassador to France — no Iranian official showed up, according to the French Foreign Ministry spokesman, Eric Chevallier.

“It’s unfortunate, but when nobody showed up this morning, everyone sat down to work,” Mr. Chevallier said. “No one explained why.”

Iran was annoyed with the French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, for remarks he made last week criticizing constant threats by Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, against Israel. It may be that with Iranian elections coming in June, it was more politic for the Iranian foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, to stay home.

The conference was meant to bring together all the countries touching on Afghanistan, including former Soviet republics like Turkmenistan and Tajikistan as well as China, India and Pakistan. Held behind closed doors at the Foreign Ministry residence at La Celle-St.-Cloud, west of Paris, the conference also included the United Nations special representative for Afghanistan, Kai Eide, and senior European Union officials responsible for foreign policy and aid.

Germany, which provides significant financial backing for NATO operations in Afghanistan, was also invited, and it will be asked to do more on the ground there, with civilian and police trainers, if not with many more troops. Russia also attended, along with all countries with troops in Afghanistan, including the United States and Britain.

With President-elect Barack Obama vowing to increase the number of troops and civilian advisers substantially to try to stabilize Afghanistan, the French, who hold the European Union presidency until the end of the year, wanted to present a forward-looking European initiative, French officials said.

Although Iran did not attend, Pakistan, another critical player in the region, did. Pakistan has been accused of not doing enough to prevent cross-border operations by the Taliban, and NATO convoys and supply depots for the military effort in Afghanistan have recently been attacked in Pakistan itself.

On Sunday in Bahrain, Gen. David H. Petraeus, head of American forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, said the problems in Pakistan brought “new urgency” to finding alternate supply routes through the “stans” of Central Asia: Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.

The Paris conference also provided an opportunity for a high-level diffusion of tensions between India and Pakistan after the terrorist attacks on Mumbai last month, which have been linked to a Pakistani militant group.

Pakistan’s foreign minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said at the meeting that the siege “was an attack on us all” and promised to do more to stop terrorism, a French official said, speaking on condition of anonymity in accord with normal diplomatic practice.

An Indian minister of state for external affairs, Anand Sharma, called for “effective, visible and coordinated cooperation,” the French official said.

The conference became more detailed on economic regional cooperation, officials reported, with the European Commission offering to host a meeting of economic experts to prepare better for a regional economic conference planned for Islamabad, Pakistan, early next year.

A French official, in answer to a question, said that issues of the Afghan government’s competence and reputation for corruption “did come up, in the context of the interests of the Afghans themselves.” Neighbors and allies all wanted “better compliance and implementation of programs,” the official said.