IRAN SHUT DOWN HEKMATYAR OFFICES
TEHRAN 10 Feb. (IPS) In a first sign of
appeasement with the United States, Iranian authorities closed Sunday the
offices of former Afghan Prime Minister Golboddin Hekmatyar and warned him that
in case he continues his activities against the present Afghan interim
government, he might be expelled from Iran.
The expected move came as the Iranian clerical leaders, including President Mohammad Khatami, were preparing the population for a nation-wide popular manifestation on Monday in solidarity with the leaders denouncing President George W. Bush’s characterization of Iran as an "evil State", alongside Iraq and North Korea.
Analysts said the decision is also a gesture of goodwill toward Mr. Hamid Karzai, the pro-American Afghan interim Prime Minister.
Ever since the American military intervention in Afghanistan, aimed at capturing Mr. Osama Ben Laden, the man alleged by Washington to be behind the 11 September terrorist attacks, the much hated Hekmatyar, obviously encouraged by the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, raised his voice against the United States, saying he wanted to go back to his homeland and help the then ruling Taleban resisting the American "invaders".
Even though the Iranian government had condemned the 11 September attacks as "terrorist" operation and Iranians organized candle light vigil in sympathy with the families of the victims, but Mr. Khameneh’i criticised in very strong words American intervention in the war-shattered Afghanistan and rejected any co-operation in the Washington-led war on terrorism.
As a result, Iran-US relations deteriorated considerably, with the Bush Administration accusing Iran of sabotaging the shaky peace in Afghanistan by destabilizing the secular government of Mr. Karzai.
Iran vehemently denies U.S. charges that it is arming and mobilising groups in the western province of Herat hostile to Mr. Karzai.
"Iran decided to close down Hekmatyar's offices because he did not consider the country's security policy", the semi-official "Iran" newspaper wrote Sunday, quoting Hossein Zare’-Sefat, a Tehran Police commander as saying.
"It's a green light to the world and the Americans that shows Iran's foreign policy is based on dialogue and friendship", Tehran University politics lecturer and a well-known reformist commentator Hamid-Reza Jala’ipour told the British news agency Reuters.
Hekmatyar, a leading Afghan warlord who fought Soviet occupation in the 1980s, expressed scorn for the Karzai government in an interview with Reuters last Tuesday, saying it was installed by foreign troops occupying Afghanistan.
"I have a lot of organised forces. They have weapons and we are in contact with them", Hekmatyar said. "While foreign troops are present, the interim government does not have any value or meaning", Reuters added.
Analysts said both Mr. Hekmatyar and General Esma’il Khan, another Afghan warlord who also lived in Iran after he fled Taleban prison, were sought by the Iranian leader as a possible forces creating difficulties for the American military presence in Afghanistan, but after Washington accused Iran of harbouring defeated Taleban and "Al-Qa’eda", he changed course.
Qandahar Governor Gol Agha last month accused Iran of both using Hekmatyar and arming Esma’il Khan in order to provoke a new civil war in Afghanistan and topple the interim government.
At first, Iran denied interfering in Afghan affairs and rejected U.S. allegations that it was letting Al Qa’eda and Taleban members escape from Afghanistan through Iran, but ended to admit that "some Taleban" had entered Iran, "pushed by some neighbouring country’s intelligence services", a clear reference to Pakistan.
"Iran is no place for any one or group that resorts to mischief", Interior Minister Hojjatoleslam Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari said on Saturday.
Intelligence Minister Hojjatoleslam Ali Yunesi said Hekmatyar had now been warned to stick by guidelines set for his proper behavior as a "guest" in Iran.
"Although Hekmatyar has received constant warnings from Iranian officials, why has he not been expelled from Iran?" the reformist daily "Norouz" asked in an editorial Sunday.
During the guerrilla war against Soviet forces, Hekmatyar was backed by Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, supplying his mujahideen fighters with U.S. arms.
His forces later devastated much of the capital Kabol firing hundreds of rockets to try to displace forces loyal to the popular Ahmad Shah Mas’ood, also assassinated by "Al-Qa’eda" just two days before the deadly 11 September operations.
But when the Taleban occupied Kabol and most of the country from the feuding mojahideen fighters, his Pakistani backers switched their support, forcing him into exile in Iran. HEKMATYAR SILENCED 10202