In accordance with Barack Obama’s pledge to offer an outstretched hand to America’s enemies, Hillary Clinton invited Iran to take part in a regional conference on Afghanistan.  Fittingly, Al-Jazeera broke the news last night:

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, has said Iran will be invited to a proposed international conference on the future of Afghanistan.

Clinton suggested the meeting at a gathering of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels on Thursday.

She said the conference involving “all the stakeholders and interested parties” should take place by the end of the month.

Clinton emphasised that all of Afghanistan’s neighbours would be asked to attend the conference.

“If we move forward with such a meeting, it is expected that Iran would be invited as a neighbour of Afghanistan,” Clinton told a news conference in Brussels.

Al-Jazeera called this a “sharp turnaround,” and for some it might seem so, but the US has had lower-level contacts with Iran regarding Afghanistan for years.  The reason: drug interdiction.  On occasion, the American media reported on these efforts, but for the most part they rarely got noticed.  The Iranians and the US have a rare paralleling of interests in this realm, with the Iranians fighting a scourge of opium addiction, and mostly losing.  The Iranians had their own domestic reasons for downplaying that partnership, which is why the Bush administration took care not to publicize it irresponsibly.

Of course, Iranian and US interests have diverged significantly at times as well.  NATO officials had proof of Iranian support for Taliban attacks inside Afghanistan in 2007, and in 2006 the Guardian reported that the Iranians had begun sending jihadists to aid the Taliban directly.  The Iranians apparently want to play both sides of the street, perhaps using their contacts as leverage for more influence on NATO policy in Afghanistan.

Given the existing level of cooperation during the Bush tenure, it seems appropriate to have the Iranians involved to some extent in regional conferences on Afghanistan.  One can certainly question the high-level invitation offered by Hillary Clinton in Brussels, though, rather than the previous low-key approach.  And before getting a seat at the table, NATO and the Obama administration had better verify which side Iran is on.