Iran's offer of help to rebuild Afghanistan heralds new age of diplomacy with the US

[cal04]

• Envoy gives pledge over drugs and development
• Western officials welcome 'spring in relationship'
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/01/us-iran-afganistan-foreign-policy

Senior western officials yesterday heralded a new spring in relations with Iran, after the Islamic regime made an historic offer to help US-led efforts in Afghanistan.

For the first time since Barack Obama came to office, US and Iranian officials met at an international conference in The Hague, with diplomats saying a possible turning point may have been reached between the US and the country it labelled part of the axis of evil seven years ago.

Washington's special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke, had an informal meeting with the Iranian delegate, Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh. The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, later described the exchange as "unplanned but cordial", adding that they had agreed to "stay in touch".

Mark Malloch Brown, Britain's foreign office minister for Africa, Asia and the United Nations, said Iranian offers of help could mark a new "spring in the relationship" between the west and Iran.

[knowbody0]

1. amazing

I am rather pleased that it's not being spun on msm. kudos to Obama and Clinton.

[Prometheus Bound]

2. I am very pleased to give this thread its first recommendation.

Wow!