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Published 24 Feb, 2009 12:00am

Clinton to meet Qureshi, Spanta in trilateral talks

WASHINGTON US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will on Thursday meet with both her Pakistani and Afghan counterparts to discuss the situation in Afghanistan, officials said on Monday.

She will first hold separate talks on Tuesday with Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi at the State Department, said spokesman Robert Wood.

On Thursday, Clinton will meet with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangeen Dadfar Spanta before the three-way talks, which will help inform an ongoing review on US policy in Afghanistan.

'I believe there is a trilateral meeting that is supposed to take place on Thursday, and then a trilateral dinner on Wednesday,' Wood told reporters.

'We obviously want to hear from a wide variety of voices about the situation ... with regard to Afghanistan and Pakistan.'

'And the secretary looks forward to meeting with both ministers, hearing their views, and of course sharing our views on what we believe is going on, on the ground. And as I said, that will all feed into our overall review.'

The Pakistani and Afghan delegations will meet during the week with the working group charged by President Barack Obama with handling the review, which is co-chaired by special US envoy to the region Richard Holbrooke.

Former CIA chief Bruce Riedel and assistant secretary of defence Michele Flournoy also co-chair the review panel which met for the first time on Wednesday.

Their report is due to be presented to Obama before the NATO summit on April 3 and 4 in Strasbourg, France and Kehl, Germany.

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