Turkish FM to attend Afghanistan meeting in Paris, Iran boycotts

Foreign Minister Ali Babacan will attend a dinner at the foreign ministry following the conference, which is seen as a continuation of the process launched at a conference in Paris in June that saw countries promise 20 billion euros in aid for Afghanistan’s reconstruction program.

G8 members with troops in Afghanistan, Italy and Germany were present in the conference, as was U.N. Afghanistan envoy Kai Eide, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and external affairs commissioner Benita Ferrero-Walder.

The countries want to involve more Afghans in work to stabilize the country, where 70,000 foreign troops under NATO and U.S. command are battling resurgent Taliban and extremist forces for control.

Since the U.S. intervention in 2001, in which air strikes and special forces helped Afghan opposition troops overthrow the Taliban regime, the country has fallen back into the guerrilla conflict that so marred its recent history.

Iran had earlier promised to send Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, according to French officials, but in the end he failed to make the trip and the Iranian ambassador also failed to show up, AFP reported citing a diplomatic source.

Despite Iran's decision to stay away, Afghanistan and its other immediate neighbors China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan were represented at the gathering.

Representatives of regional power India and U.N. Security Council heavyweights Britain, Russia and the United States also attended.

French-Iranian relations were strained this week after the foreign ministry in Tehran summoned the French ambassador to protest remarks by President Nicolas Sarkozy condemning Iran's threats against Israel.