IN AFGHANISTAN, IRAN WAS AGAIN OVERTAKEN BY PAKISTAN
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 8 Dec. (IPS) In the race for the heart and soul of Afghanistan, but
also its to be developed wealth, the Islamic Republic of Iran was again
overtaken by neighbouring Pakistan, as General Parviz Mosharraf, in a telegram
to Mr. Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s new interim Prime Minister designate,
assured him of Islamabad’s "fullest support in all respects",
including rehabilitation and reconstruction of Afghanistan.
President Mosharraf congratulated Mr. Karzai on having been nominated as Chairman of the Interim Authority in Afghanistan and assured him that Pakistan would be willing to extend any help and cooperation that it can and which is sought by the interim Afghan government, to make its task given to it by the United Nations a success.
In response, Mr. Hamid Karzai assured Mosharraf that his administration would adopt a policy of friendship and brotherhood towards Pakistan and added that he would be very glad to visit Pakistan and meet President Mosharraf.
"Our two countries would live as good brothers and neighbours, Karzai said, noting that it was the first call from any country he received after his nomination as the Head of the interim Afghan administration.
As Pakistan was strengthening its foothold in Afghanistan, Iranian clerical leaders, including Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami were busy condemning Israel for its military operations against the Palestinians, thousands of kilometres far from their borders.
The Iranian government said on Wednesday it had no objection to Karzai, a member of the country's majority Pashtoon ethnic group, heading the interim government, but at the same time denied that it had invited Mr. Karzai to Tehran as his first destination as Interim Prime Minister.
However, speaking to the state-owned, leader-controlled Iranian Radio on Saturday, Mr.
Karzai paid tribute to Iran's role in ousting the Taleban militia, saying: "We pay tribute to the role of Iran in Afghanistan and hope for the continuity of amicable and brotherly relations between Kabul and Tehran"."The Islamic Republic is a neighbourly country and brother of Afghanistan and we have lived together for centuries", he said, speaking in Dari, or Afghani Persian.
In a sermon pronounced Friday, Iran’s lamed leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i While welcomed the agreement reached in Bonn among Afghan delegates, who designated Mr. Karzai, a Poshtoon leader supporting the former Afghan Monarch Mohammad Zaher Shah, but warned the new Afghan officials not to foray from "true Islam".
His "advise" to the new Afghan leadership, most of them devout but secular Muslims, received a barrage of protest from Iranian analysts and intellectuals, who accused him of "gross interference" in the internal affairs of Afghanistan.
"In his speech, Mr. Khameneh’i warned the Westerners, mainly the American, from staying in Afghanistan, but he himself interfered with their affairs, in telling them what kind of Islam to choose", noted Dr. Shahin Fatemi, a senior professor of Economy at the American University of Paris.
Contrary to Mr. Khameneh’i and all other Iranian ruling clerics, the new Afghan leadership, including the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Interior ministers, is almost Sunni Muslim, which considers the Sh’ia sect as heretics to Islam.
"We hope that Iran's leaders and brothers contribute to the reestablishment of peace and stability in Afghanistan and to the country's progress", Mr. Karzai told the Radio, in his first address to Iran since being selected Head of the new Afghan coalition government on Wednesday.
He is to start work on 22 December and run the country for six months, until a Loya Jirga, a traditional assembly of elders, meets to form a new transitional government to guide Afghanistan over the following two years.
After the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in 1996, Iran was an anchor of support for the opposition Northern Alliance, which crushed the Taleban last month with major backing from the US military.