| | Iran's 'double game' in Afghanistan The Guardian
03/11/2010
By Massoumeh Torfeh
[Printer Friendly Version]
The Iranian president's outspoken criticism of the US presence during his visit to Kabul embarrassed his Afghan counterpart
It must have felt very uncomfortable for President Hamid Karzai to have his guest and "brother", Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, use a press conference in Kabul to attack Afghanistan's main donor and ally, the United States. "They themselves created terrorists and now they're saying that they are fighting terrorists," said Ahmadinejad, accusing the US of playing a "double game" in Afghanistan.
Ahmadinejad was in fact returning a compliment by the US defence secretary, Robert Gates, who only hours earlier had accused Tehran of "playing a double game" of offering friendship to the Afghan government while at the same time giving "low-level support" and money to the Taliban.
Karzai had always hoped to be the mediator between Iran and America, yet on this occasion, unwittingly, he became the messenger of abuse. He looked distinctly uneasy in the press conference, never knowing what Ahmadinejad may come up with in his next sentence.
"Your country is located on the other side of the world, so what are you doing here?" said Ahmadinejad, criticising the US presence in Afghanistan. Yet he didn't seem to be full of novel ideas for resolving the complex web of problems facing Afghanistan. He suggested empowering "the Afghan government, the legal Afghan government, and the legal government's running of the country and its security issues".
His stress on the word "legal" was not without reason. Like his own second term, Karzai's election was marred by fraud. Both men in fact share the precarious status of being regarded as contested presidents. They were both the first to congratulate each other after the doubtful results of their election were announced.
Yet despite sharing this relative lack of authority, and despite the deep historical and cultural ties that link Iran and Afghanistan, the two men have a lot that sets them apart. In Ahmadinejad's frame of mind, Karzai is regarded as an American stooge and weak. Karzai, in turn, views Ahmadinejad as being far too much of a fundamentalist and not necessarily as well-intentioned as he likes to pretend.
Thus there is lingering underlying distrust. While Karzai has frequently praised Iran's aid, he is watching cautiously where Iran's hundreds of millions of dollars are spent. Although much has gone towards drug eradication and humanitarian aid, the bulk of projects funded by Iran are focused in Herat province in western Afghanistan, near the border with Iran. Funds have been pouring in for road and rail reconstruction along the main transit route between the two countries. This aids the flow of trade – especially non-oil exports from Iran to Afghanistan – steadily rising from over £50m in 2001, now estimated to be £665m.
The former powerful governor of Herat, General Ismail Khan, is a close ally of Iran. When defeated by the Taliban in 1995, Khan fled to Iran with thousands of his men. Now Iran is building on that connection, improving trade links through Herat while keeping an eye on American movements along its eastern border. Iran is concerned that Washington may use this border for espionage activity or for mounting a potential attack against Iran.
A further source of concern for Karzai is that Iran has close ties to Shia Muslims led by Karim Khalili – another former mujahideen leader who is currently the vice-president. His Islamic Unity party was funded by Iran during the years of civil war and was the second most potent force against the Taliban. Iran now funds major projects in areas densely populated by Shias, such as in Bamyan.
Some American security analysts argue that Iran holds these ties with the former mujahideen "warlords" in order to have the possibility of causing tension should the need arise. They could be right, since president Ahmadinejad spent the rest of his visit meeting with them.
"History shows that invading powers have never been victorious in Afghanistan," said Ahmadinejad at a luncheon attended by former mujahideen leaders. He then met with two more: Sebghatollah Mojaddedi and Younis Qanooni, now presiding over Afghanistan's senate and parliament respectively. It was by using its contacts with these leaders that Iran helped Washington defeat the Taliban in 2001. However, now many of them have moved on and prefer the international forces to remain in Afghanistan.
So Robert Gates is probably wrong to assume that Iran is funding the Taliban. Iran has long been an enemy of the Taliban, regarding them as Wahhabi Muslims funded by Saudi Arabia. It prefers instead to invest in those players who are both anti-Taliban and anti-American. And although many of those are currently in key political positions, Iran knows that when the time is right, they will switch sides. In that sense, the US defence secretary is probably right to be concerned about Iran playing a "double game", but then Afghanistan has always been a land of international and local double games.
Other Stories:
|
|