Clinton sets date for first US-Iran meeting on Afghanistan

From the New York Times:

BRUSSELS — Setting up the prospect of its first face-to-face encounter with Iran, the Obama administration proposed a conference on Afghanistan later this month that is likely to include Iran among the invited participants, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday.
“We presented the idea of what is being called a big-tent meeting, with all the parties who have a stake and an interest in Afghanistan,” Mrs. Clinton said at a meeting of NATO foreign ministers here. “We hope that this meeting could provide an opportunity to reach a common set of principles.’

Bravo.  In what I hope is the first step in a long process of making face-to-face US/Iran meetings completely unremarkable and commonplace, Secretary of State Clinton has set up a conference on Afghanistan that will include all of the country’s neighbors, scheduled for March 31.  No word yet on whether Iran will accept the invitation.