The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/31/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Peter Dejong - Associated Press Tulips and a line of flags are seen at the entrance to the convention center hosting the Afghanistan Conference, in The Hague, Netherlands, Monday. An international conference on pacifying Afghanistan will include two unlikely partners for peace, the United States and Iran. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will attend the U.N.-sponsored conference Tuesday in the Netherlands. And a Dutch diplomat said Monday that Iran will send its deputy foreign minister, Medhi Akhundzadeh, to the meeting, as well.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - A 72-nation conference on Afghanistan will launch a broader international commitment to the security of the region, including neighboring Pakistan, special U.S. envoy Richard Holbrooke said Monday.

The hastily convened conference opening Tuesday in this Dutch city brings together all the countries bordering Afghanistan, including Iran, and all nations contributing troops to the NATO-led international force fighting Taliban insurgents.

It will be opened by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"We have great expectations," Karzai said after arriving Monday night. "I'm sure there will be support for Afghanistan ... and that together, Afghanistan and the international community will strive and succeed towards the completion of this journey together."

With the meeting scheduled to last just seven hours including lunch, few countries will be able to give a nuanced analysis on the conference's stated theme: a comprehensive review of Afghan strategy in a regional context. Most will not have a chance to speak at all.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was expected to outline the policy review unveiled last week by President Barack Obama. The president said he will send an extra 17,000 soldiers and 4,000 advisers to train Afghan military forces, plus hundreds more civilians to work on development issues. More than half of the 70,000 troops now in Afghanistan are Americans.

Continued...

Page 1 of 2 next >

Article Tools