ZALMAY KHALILZAD SAYS AL-QA’EDA GUERILLAS ARE IN IRAN
Kabol 18 Jan. (IPS) United States Special Envoy for Afghanistan Mr. Zalmay Khalilzad accused Friday the Islamic Republic of not allowing Washington access to the "Al Qa’eda" Muslim guerilleros it is sheltering.
"Al-Qa’eda fighters have crossed from Afghanistan into Iran but Tehran
is not allowing the United States access to those it has detained", Mr.
Khalilzad said during a press conference in Kabol at the end of his visit to the
war-ravaged Asian nation.
The remarks from the Afghan-born Khalilzad was the latest in a series of American accusation against Iran and followed the unprecedented stern warnings of the U.S. President George W. Bush's call on Tehran to hand over the "Al Qa’eda" and Taleban leaders who have fled to Iran in the one hand and stop operations aimed at destabilising the present Afghan interim government.
"If they (the Iranian ruling ayatollahs) in any way, shape or form try to destabilise the (Afghan) government, the (US-led international) coalition will first deal with them, in diplomatic ways", President Bush said last week during a press briefing at the White House.
"We would hope, for example, they wouldn't allow Al Qa’eda murderers to hide in their country. We would hope that if that be the case, if someone tries to flee into Iran, that they would hand them over to us", Mr. Bush said, adding that he would very much like to see the Iranians to be active participants in a stable Afghanistan.
The warning send shivers to Iranian clerical rulers. In telephone calls to the British and Afghan prime ministers, Mr. Tony Blair and Mr. Hamed Karzai, both among President Bush’s closest friends and allies, President Mohammad Khatami, himself a middle-rank cleric, assured them that Tehran was not destabilising the Afghan government nor is sheltering any member of Al Qa’eda or the Taleban.
His explanations followed a threat made earlier by the former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani who, during a Friday sermon, had warned indirectly both London and Washington that Iran might resume terrorist attacks on American and British interests.
Denouncing President Bush’s accusations as "baseless" and based on information fed by "Zionist circles", the Iranian Foreign Ministry had further reiterated that Iran has not only sealed all its borders with Afghanistan, but issued orders for necessity of obtaining visas for entering the country from all Arab countries, "to avoid entrance of unwanted guests!"
However, Iran Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi had all the same not ruled out the possibility of "sneaking in of Taleban or Al Qa’eda escaping figures into Iranian soil", adding "Iran will definitely put to trail such figures if they are spotted and detained in Iran".
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Khalilzad said that Washington also has reason to fear Iran is trying to stir up trouble for Afghanistan's new interim Administration with "hostile acts such as providing arms and sending Islamic militants into the country".
He said Washington would consider Tehran was meddling in Afghan affairs if it armed or funded local groups without approval from Kabol, sent in militants from its Revolutionary Guards or Afghans it has trained in the Sepah Mohammad (Mohammad's Soldiers) group or encouraged people to oppose the central administration.
Mr. Khalilzad cited reports that Iran may be sending pro-Iranian Afghan fighters and money into Afghanistan and encouraging opposition to the Administration of Hamed Karzai, which was inaugurated in December after the fall of the Taleban militia and mandated to rule for six months.
Earlier in the month a spokesman for the Governor of Qandahar had reported the presence of Iranian intelligence operatives in western provinces of Afghanistan, distributing arms, money, ammunitions to local commanders and seditious propaganda among the population, describing Mr. Karzai as a "puppet" of American "infidels".
"I think they have some al Qa’eda people in their possession but they have not made them available to the United States", said Mr. Khalilzad, the highest-ranking Muslim in the Bush Administration.
Based on reports from eyewitnesses, Iran Press Service had reported that Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani had personally escorted some 70 to 90 "seemingly high-ranking" Taleban and "Arab-looking" personalities from Mash-had, the capital of Iran’s north-eastern Province of Khorasan to Tehran.
According to Mr. Khalilzad, "quite a few" Al Qa’eda fighters had slipped into Iran since the Taleban were defeated in November, following American military intervention in Afghanistan.
Mr. Khalilzad said he had made U.S. concerns clear to Isma’il Khan, the powerful Governor of Heart, during a recent visit to the western city that is close to Iranian border.
Esma’il Khan lived in Iran for much of the five years Afghanistan was ruled by the Taleban and is known to be close to the Iranian conservatives who have the upper hand in the Iranian leadership.
"I think there is reason to be concerned about all of these," Mr. Khalilzad said, quoting merely sources among "tribal people!"
"At least one large group of Arabs and their families have fled into Iran", local tribal sources have told the US Envoy.
In its rejection of American accusations, Iran observed that it was one of the Northern Alliance’s staunchest supporters, helping the Alliance resisting the then ruling Taleban.
Iran had also condemned the 11 September attacks on America, attributed to Al Qa’eda, but then not only it refused to co-operate with Washington in fighting terrorism, but also condemned American military operations in Afghanistan on the assumption that the final aim is to overthrow the Islamic regime of Iran.
Meanwhile, Mr. Karzai left Friday for Saudi Arabia, one of the three countries with Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates that recognised the ousted Taleban regime of Afghanistan.
But the Kingdom, that is also the birthplace of Osama Ben Laden, the leader of Al Qa’eda, severed relations with the Taleban after the New York and Washington attacks.
Though the main reason of the trip seems to be performing the "Omra Haj", to Mecca, Muslim’s holiest shrines, nevertheless, the visit is criticised by many Afghans and Afghan watchers, reminding the Kingdom’s financial support of the Taleban.
"Though Karzai might ask the Saudi’s to put an end to their proselytise in Afghanistan, as they did during the rule of the Taleban and also ask them for contribution to reconstruction projects, but nevertheless, it is more important for him to pay greater attention to his immediate and powerful neighbours, Iran and Pakistan", observed Mr. Changiz Pahlavan, a noted Iranian expert on Afghanistan and Central Asia.
Actually, on his way to Riyadh, Mr. Karzai made a stop over in Islamabad where he briefly met with Pakistan’s President Parviz Mosharraf.
After this visit and talks with Saudi rulers, Mr. Karzai would head to Tokyo for a conference of donor nations aimed at raising an initial $5 billion in aid for his war-devastated country before going to Washington for a meeting with President Bush on 28 January. ENDS AFQANESTAN IRAN 18102