Ban raises Afghanistan at G8 meeting

TRIESTE, Italy, June 26 (UPI) -- The regional implications of the conflict in Afghanistan will be the focus of the U.N. secretary-general's visit to the G8 meeting in Italy, officials say.

Foreign leaders from the Group of Eight -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States -- convened Friday in Trieste, Italy, for talks on the Middle East, Afghanistan and other regional issues.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Arab leaders as well as the Middle East Quartet, a group composed of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the United States, convened to settle the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said the secretary-general will also focus on the conflict in Afghanistan.

"That gathering will look at the situation in Afghanistan from a regional perspective," she said. "It will touch on themes such as cooperation in border management and countering illicit drug trafficking."

Afghanistan and other regional issues, however, were largely overshadowed by political unrest in Iran.

Iran has witnessed nearly two weeks of turmoil in the wake of a June 12 election that saw President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad officially be named a landslide victor. His opponents have disputed the outcome.

With a sweeping blackout imposed on foreign journalists, unverified reports out of Iran depict a deadly reaction by the Iranian elite to the street demonstrators, with leading clerics warning of more bloodshed during Friday prayers.

The G8 leaders in Trieste on Friday expressed concern over the Iranian revolts, deploring the use of violence by Iranian forces.