Iran to host summit with Afghanistan, Pakistan ....soon after a US-backed international conference on Afghanistan

AFP, here

"...Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will on Tuesday host a summit with his counterparts from Afghanistan and Pakistan, which is expected to discuss rebulding of war-shattered Afghanistan. Announcing the summit on Saturday, Ahmadinejad's office did not reveal the agenda for the talks to be attended by Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan.

But the gathering comes less than three months after the three met in Tehran for a regional economic summit, along with leaders from other neighbouring states. That summit pledged to help rebuild Afghanistan, and also the Gaza Strip after Israel's devastating military assault in December and January.

The May 19 meeting also comes soon after a US-backed international conference on Afghanistan in The Hague which was attended by Tehran following diplomatic overtures by arch-rival Washington towards the Islamic republic....."