Afghanistan hopes Iran will attend G8 meeting

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini had planned to arrive in Tehran on Wednesday to invite his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki to the Group of Eight meeting slated to be held in the Italian city of Trieste in June. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hassan Qashqavi told reporters on Monday that Rome would dispatch an envoy to Tehran to set another date for Frattini's visit to the Islamic Republic. The Afghan foreign minister responded on the issue by expressing hope that Mottaki would take part in the meeting in Italy on Afghanistan, saying the future of the region will depend on the close cooperation of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Fars news agency reported on Tuesday. He added that the three neighboring countries -- Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan -- should make efforts to enhance cooperation in the campaign against terrorism and to establish security and stability. Almost eight years after the US-led invasion of Afghanistan, the country still suffers from increasing violence, as the US-led NATO forces that ousted the Taliban in 2001 have yet to establish peace in Afghanistan; Kazinform cites Trend News. See www.news-en.trend.az for full version.