Iran and US in 'springtime' contacts over Afghanistan

Relations between Iran and the West were described as approaching a turning point yesterday after senior officials from Washington and Tehran met at an international summit in which the Islamic state offered to play an active role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan.

The US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, revealed that Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, spoke to Iran's deputy foreign minister Mohammed Mehdi Akhoundzadeh on the fringes of the summit in The Hague.

Later Mrs Clinton said the Iranian approach at the conference showed "promising signs for the future" while the Foreign Office minister, Lord Malloch-Brown, spoke of a new "springtime" in contacts with the country that the former US president George Bush had branded part of the "axis of evil".

Lord Malloch-Brown, said the involvement of Iran, a regional power, was critical in attempting to resolve the problems in Afghanistan and the country's absence until now had meant that "we have had to fight our Afghan strategy with one hand tied behind our backs".

The encounter was officially said to have been a "chance meeting" but diplomatic sources said they had been fully expecting that it would take place in the course of the day.

Mrs Clinton said: "Richard Holbrooke had a brief and cordial exchange with the head of the Iranian delegation. It did not focus on anything substantive. It was cordial, it was unplanned and they agreed to stay in touch."

The conference in Holland, with the presence of Mrs Clinton and the Iranian delegation, was seen as a significant step in the Obama administration's declared aim of re-establishing links with Tehran after the acrimonious relationship of the Bush years.

Differences between the two sides surfaced with Mr Akhoundzadeh criticising the "surge" in troops authorised by President Obama, reiterating his country's long standing opposition to the presence of Western troops at its border.

"The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country and it seems that an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective too," he said.

But, in what was seen as Tehran signalling a greater desire to work alongside the West, Mr Akhoundzadeh said Iran "welcomed the proposals for joint co-operation offered by the countries contributing to Afghanistan".

"The Islamic Republic of Iran is fully prepared to participate in the projects aimed at combating drug trafficking and the plans in line with developing and reconstructing Afghanistan," he said.

Mrs Clinton, in turn, said that the US had delivered a letter to the Iranian delegation at the conference asking Tehran to assist three American citizens she said were "unable to return to the United States".

She said the "success of the conference" had been due to the presence of Afghanistan's neighbours and "the intervention by the Iranian representative set forth some very clear ideas that we will be pursuing together".

"We will look for ways to co-operate with them. The fact they came and intervened is a promising sign that there will be co-operation," she said. "Just as these problems cannot be solved without the Afghan people, they cannot be solved without the help Afghanistan's neighbours."

Western officials described Mr Akhoundzadeh as a senior official close to the Iranian leadership.

He had been the Iranian charge d'affaires in the UK during the Thatcher era and had been "flexible and open minded".

Lord Malloch-Brown said that "one could see tentative beginnings" of a rapprochement with Iran.

He said "it was springtime in the relationship" but cautioned that "there may be a few winter frosts left as well".

He also acknowledged the history of suspicion between Iran and the US and UK. He said: "Iran has done some bad things in Afghanistan and before that in Iraq. We in the UK have been the butt of that."

But "the reason the Iranians were supporting proxies in these places was the lack of a diplomatic partnership. It is hoped that rapprochement will prompt this behaviour being moderated and hopefully stopped."

Iran and Pakistan, said Lord Malloch-Brown, were of crucial importance as Afghanistan's neighbours and "there is a sense of completeness in having them both back at the table".

Iran, he pointed out, had co-operated in the past and could do again.

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