Kabul Turns to Tehran--ATimes Online

[Gloria]

In the new World Media Watch up now at http://www.zianet.com/insightanalytical
Tomorrow at Buzzflash.com


2//Asia Times Online, Hong Kong Jan 28, 2005

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Central_Asia/GA28Ag01.html


KABUL TURNS TO TEHRAN

By Golnaz Esfandiari



PRAGUE - Afghan President Hamid Karzai is making his first official visit out of the country since taking presidential office in early December. He

is leading a high-level delegation to Iran for two days that includes the ministers of the interior, finance and economy, as well as the minister for refugees.

(snip)

Colonel Christopher Langton, who heads the defense analysis department at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, said Iran is an important country in the future reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.

"They are being closely linked by efforts against the Taliban in the past, but also because of the influence that Iran can bring there with the Hazara population . And in the development sector, there are already projects which Iran is involved in - for instance, the road from Bandar Abbas on the Persian Gulf up through Afghanistan to Central Asia is a very, very important project for the future of Afghanistan," Langton said. "There is a whole list of political, economic and security issues which connect Afghanistan and Iran."

Iran and Afghanistan are also connected historically and culturally. And Iran's strained relations with the US have not prevented Tehran from strengthening its economic and trade cooperation with Kabul since the US-led fall of the Taliban in late 2001.



(SNIP)



Karzai's trip to Iran comes amid growing speculation about a US military strike on Iran. An article published recently in The New Yorker magazine said US Special Forces have been penetrating eastern Iran from Afghanistan since last summer in order to identify sites for possible strikes.

(SNIP)


A spokesman for Karzai, Rafiullah Mujaddedi, said he was unsure whether the Afghan and Iranian presidents would discuss reports that the US military - which has thousands of troops in Afghanistan - had conducted spying missions inside Iran. Langton said a US military strike on Iran would have a deeply negative impact on ties between the two neighbors.

"The Iranian regime sees as somebody who was brought to power quite legitimately, but nevertheless on the back of very, very strong support from the US, which is still to a large extent maintaining its position inside Afghanistan," Langton said. "So any American military action against Iran - however likely or unlikely - is going to affect the way Iran and Afghanistan develop their relationship in the immediate and near future."

Lieutenant-General Eric Olson, the operational commander of US forces pursuing Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants in Afghanistan, told the Associated Press on January 24 that he knew of no US spying missions in Iran. He also cautioned that any instability in the Islamic Republic could have an adverse effect on US operations in Afghanistan.


(MORE)

[Freedom_from_Chains]

1. I seriously doubt George is going to like this news.

[htuttle]

2. Don't worry. I'm sure they won't tell him about it

[John Q. Citizen]

3. This could explain the US in Iraq to some degree.

Iran and Iraq are historic enemies. The US official policy is that Iran is a "rogue state" yet Reagan/Bush traded stinger missles to Iran for Contra Aid and now George JR has knocked off Iran's main competitor and is poised to install an Iran friendly Shea government.

And Iran is investing in US ran Afghanistan.

Seems pretty cosy in a way.