A lot of meetings in Pakistan this week.

An interesting series of meetings are happening this week in Pakistan.

First, Musarraf is meeting with the ministers of Egypt, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Indonesia beginning this last Sunday. These meetings will continue throughout the week. The purpose of these meetings is to lay the groundwork to come up with a solution to the middle east crisis in Israel, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Iran. From here ministers will head to a summit of their leaders to be hosted in Saudi Arabia by King Abdullah at a later date.

Vice President Cheney made a surprise visit to Pakistan today to discuss these same issues with Musarraf.

The British foreign secretary also is meeting with Musharraf this week to discuss the same issues.

Notably absent from all these meetings is Iran, Syria, and the Palestinian Authority.