'US military surge destabilizes Pakistan'

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi says the US' move to send 21,000 extra troops to war-ravaged Afghanistan could have serious implications for Pakistan.

"Pakistan has talked through political and military ways at all levels to the stakeholders that transferring the problem from Afghanistan to Pakistan will not help resolve the issue," Qureshi said at a news conference with his Turkish counterpart in Islamabad on Tuesday.

The Islamabad government is worried that the US President Barack Obama's move to boost its military presence in Afghanistan could further destabilize Pakistan by pushing more militants across the border.

Increased US military activity may also spark an influx of refugees from insurgency-hit southern Afghanistan into border areas of Pakistan.

The US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 has prompted the Taliban militants to focus their attention across the border in Pakistan, turning the restive tribal belt between the two neighbors into the scene of deadly violence.

Qureshi also added that the US military surge in the war-conflict Afghanistan might also have implications for Pakistan's southwestern province of Balochistan.

Pakistan's Balochistan is already rocked by violence as Baloch rebel groups have for many years campaigned for greater autonomy and control of local resources.

Qureshi urged Washington to pursue non-military solutions to conflict in the troubled Pakistan and Afghanistan. "There should be a civilian surge to promote reconciliatory efforts in Afghanistan to resolve the issue".

Islamabad has repeatedly said that unwise White House policies were strengthening the Taliban and spreading extremism in the volatile region.

Violence in Pakistan has claimed the lives of thousands of people, including civilians and soldiers, since the country joined US-led 'war on terror'.

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US Hopes Iran Can Supply Europe with Gas

The US has expressed hope that Iran changes position so that the country's gas could be used in projects such as Nabucco to diversify sources of energy supply.

"Today it is not time to use the Iranian gas in the projects due to country's violation of its international obligations and presenting a threat to international peace and stability," the US Special Envoy for Eurasian Energy, Richard Morningstar, said Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan.

This is while Morningstar, whose country has already opposed Iran's involvement in the $10 billion project, said during an energy summit in April that Washington did not exclude Iran as a potential supplier for the Nabucco pipeline.

In addition, the Nabucco consortium managing director Reinhard Mitschek hinted in early February that the consortium was considering Iran as one of the several starting points for the construction of the pipeline.

The proposed 3,300-kilometer Nabucco pipeline aims to carry natural gas from Central Asia via Turkey and the Balkan states to Austria, bypassing Russia and Ukraine.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said in March that the Nabucco gas pipeline is not feasible without Iran's involvement in the project.

"...Nabucco will not reduce the number of transit countries but increase them. Azerbaijan, Turkey, Georgia. But even that is not enough, as Nabucco cannot be carried out unless Iran joins the project," Morningstar stated.

The projects such as Turkey-Greece-Italy (TGI) gas pipeline and Nabucco are very important from a strategic point of view and in terms of diversification, Morningstar pointed out.

Iran owns 16 percent of the world's natural gas reserves.

US to Attend G8 Meeting alongside Iran

US to Attend G8 Meeting alongside Iran
The US State Department confirmed on Friday that the country's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will attend a meeting of the Group of Eight foreign ministers in Italy at the end of June.

"Yes, the secretary will attend," said State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley.

The US announcement came a day after the Italian Foreign Ministry extended an invitation to the Islamic Republic of Iran to attend the G-8 foreign ministerial meeting in Trieste, port city north of Italy, on June 25-27.

"Iran is invited to the conference, yes," said Italy's special envoy for Afghanistan Sergio Mercuri whose country currently holds the G8 presidency.

The two-day conference aims to promote peace and stability in Afghanistan with the help of its neighbors including Iran.

Washington has backed Tehran's participation in the G8 meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan this month.

Earlier in May, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said that Clinton was in favor of inviting Iran to the meeting.

Also in March, Tehran was invited to an international conference on Afghanistan at The Hague.

Washington has shown desire to reach out to Tehran to tackle problems facing Afghanistan, including the growing strength of Taliban militants across the war-torn country.

Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta has also welcomed the presence of Iran at the meeting on Afghanistan.

US pressing Nabucco scheme sans Iran

The US has made it clear that it does not support Iran's involvement in the Nabucco gas pipeline until Tehran 'changes its policies'.

Richard Morningstar, the US special envoy for Eurasian energy issues, said that Iran can only join the gas pipeline undertaking after the normalization of ties between Tehran and Washington.

He told a group of reporters in Ankara on Thursday that inviting Iran to the project without a resolution to the standoff over its nuclear program could "have a negative effect."

"We don't want to change our policy unless Iran changes its policy," AP quoted Morningstar as saying.

The pipeline is to link the Caspian Sea region, the Middle East and Egypt to the European Union via Turkey.

The Nabucco consortium, which aims at decreasing Europe's dependence on Russian natural gas, has been unable to find sufficient gas supplies necessary for the feasibility of the project.

Turkey, which is a member of the consortium, has repeatedly voiced its support for Iran's involvement in the project.

Obama changes tone on Iran nuclear issue

US President Barack Obama has admitted Washington's past mistakes toward Tehran, saying Iran has right to peaceful nuclear technology.

In a keynote Thursday speech at Cairo University, Obama said "any nation -- including Iran -- should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

Tehran has repeatedly argued that as an NPT-signatory, it has the right to use nuclear energy for civilian purposes.

This is while Israel -- believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East -- has so far refused to sign the treaty.

"No single nation should pick and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons," Obama said.

In a reference to Israel, Obama said he understood protests "that some countries have weapons that others do not", adding that there should not be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

The US president acknowledged that it will be hard to "overcome decades of mistrust" but said he is committed to moving forward in relations with the Islamic Republic with mutual respect and without preconditions.

Since taking office as the US president in January, Obama talked of a policy change toward Iran, saying the US would extend a hand of peace to Iran if it "unclenched its fist".

Iran was invited to an international conference on Afghanistan in March. Washington has also backed Tehran's participation in a G8 meeting on Afghanistan and Pakistan later this month.

Tehran demands that Washington manifest a 'genuine' change in action rather than a change in tone by withdrawing its allegations against the country and lifting anti-Iran sanctions which were extended for another year by the Obama administration.