US and Iran open Afghanistan peace talks [Historic!!]

US and Iran open Afghanistan peace talks [Historic!!]

www.timesonline.co.uk

IRANIAN and American officials have held their first talks about ending the war in Afghanistan amid signs that President Barack Obama’s efforts to thaw relations with Tehran are paying off.

While television cameras focused on Obama in Washington during the unveiling of his strategy for Afghanistan last Friday, US and Iranian diplomats were holding a remarkable meeting in Moscow.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Can you imagine America and Iran talking about peace....in Moscow!?! Truly a crazy thing that I thought I wouldn't see...ever. I wonder what they are up to. Could it be that Obama is really tired of war or is this just a PR stunt? I guess we will have to wait and see. Crazy news nonetheless.

Don't really know what else I can say about this that wouldn't be rambling but ATS wont accept a news story without a sufficient number of characters in the comment section...hope that did it.

www.timesonline.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by bringthelight


If it was a PR stunt, there would be much more of a song and dance made about it. Sending some low key officials is just the first step countries take to lay the ground work for an official agreement.

It's a good sign, I think.

At the very least it might put to bed the bi-weekly threads that get started here on how the US is going to "bomb Iran back to the Stone Age" or how those evil "Arabs" in Tehran are making nukes....

Its about time we had something good to read for a change.Sounds like the Iranians want to be genuine.Three tons of opium they seize every day!Sounds like the West and the Mid-east have the same problem-illegal narcotics.

reply to post by Justice69


Iran has a huge problem in the rural area's with Heroin addiction, mainly due to it being nest door to the worlds largest supplier.

They are actually quite "tolerant", in that they don't punish harshly for drug offences and try to get addicts help. Dealers get executed, but they probably deserve it!

These are "framework" meetings. Both parties engage in a discovery-style exchange to determine if it is feasible for relations to proceed in light of all the standing positions declared by both states.

They then present the mutually agreed upon factors to each others' leadership. Mostly, it's about discussing format and venues for future exchanges.

It is a good thing..., a very small good thing. It could go nowhere if any major political influence inside the country doesn't start up with the current smack-talk.

Once something like this is announced, anyone who starts denouncing the other can be 'tagged' as a general opponent of the effort.

Can't wait to see who starts spewing rhetoric next.

According to the information I red over the years, Iran nearly invaded Afghanistan in 2000 because of the BS the Talibans were pulling in Iran and in the drug trade.

Then in 2001, the US attacked and Iran helped, captured many talibans fleeing to Iran... actually captured more than NATO.

Iran was a key player in the war on terror in Afghanistan because they did not want the whole Afghan BS anymore.

Then Bush made his ``Rogue nations`` speech, and from that day, the US turned their back on Iran, Iran felt betrayed since they helped so much the US in Afghanistan.

So let's hope Iran is back up to where they belong, as an ally in the fight in Afghanistan and not another enemy.

So let's hope Iran is back up to where they belong, as an ally in the fight in Afghanistan and not another enemy.

I wouldn't consider Iran an ally as they can certainly boast their own overloaded list of human rights violations. I would try to have as little to do with them as possible until they ditch their oppressive theocratic government. Iran has a substantial population of progressives, and I really hope they can affect some change from within.

If at all possible, it would be preferable to abstain from bombing Tehran. It's a beautiful city, and Iran can be an extremely beautiful country. Their government just sucks and fundamentalism is allowed too free a reign.

I call BS.

Good marketing on their part. Brilliant move really.

As the US unveils it's brand new "Let's Stay In Afghanistan Forever" plan, they would need something to show that this is progress, not just some military take over of the middle east.

So what do they bring to the table, PEACE TALKS with Iran! Ofcourse, release a story that Iran is engaging in talks with the US and Russia and then in 3 weeks we can just run another story that says Iran refused to cooperate or something silly like that.

Just setting up for a fall, that's all folks. Don't be fooled by the cleverly worded propaganda.

~Keeper

Wow, finally some positive news coming out of the Obama administration. Who knows if this is actually going to accomplish anything but with the doom and gloom of the last several months I'll take it. I find it somewhat annoying that this story was broke on a UK news site and that this probably will be a blurb or not even mentioned in the American MSM or Alternative Medias as everyone is screaming, hysterical and pushing their own agendas right now.

But cheers Obama Administration, hopefully this is a step in the right direction. To me this is near the bottom of priorities right now for this country, but I'll take any good news and positive progress right now.

[edit on 29-3-2009 by CuriousSkeptic]

This is likely to go nowhere. Comrade Obama has stated that he wants to engage them in dialogue but that their pursuit of nuclear arms is unacceptable. As is usual with him, he is talking out of both faces at the same time and not really saying or committing to anything of substance.

Lasheic said:
" I wouldn't consider Iran an ally as they can certainly boast their own overloaded list of human rights violations. I would try to have as little to do with them as possible until they ditch their oppressive theocratic government. Iran has a substantial population of progressives, and I really hope they can affect some change from within."

I would agree that Iran is not an ally and I don't think we should let the bombs start flying. War should always be a last resort. But "oppressive" and "progressive" - when referring to government mean pretty much the same thing. Our "progressive" government is punishing success and self reliance to keep us enslaved to them. Disagreeing with the current administration is "hate speech".
I agree with tothetenthpower, this is marketing for the Stay in Afghanistan forever war.

reply to post by tallcool1


The reason why I think it's the war that will never end is this:

Iraq was a failed attempt at keeping a permanent military presence in the Middle East to bully countries into foreign policy deals, trade deals, weapons deals and drug deals.

It would have worked out wonderfully for them, however, George shot himself in the foot when he disbanded the army, and all of them joined the insurgency providing far too much opposition for them to stay.

That's why there was never an initial plan to leave Iraq, it wasn't in their interests. So they passed the gauntlet on to Afhanistan, which techinically is a much better staging point since it can provide aid and received it from Israel.

And leaving Iraq now gives them a good excuse to move through Turkey and then line up on the Iranian boarder and wait.

~Keeper