US and Iran meet at Afghan conference

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said her special envoy had an unplanned but cordial exchange with Iran's delegate to a conference on Afghanistan on Tuesday. Clinton said Richard Holbrooke agreed with Iran's deputy foreign minister Mehdi Akhundzadeh "to stay in touch." The encounter came on the sidelines of a meeting of more than 80 countries and organizations involved in Afghanistan and its war against Taliban insurgents. The US encounter was the first with Iran since President Barack Obama offered to improve 30 years of chilly relations.