IRAN ACCUSED OF SUBVERSIVE ACTIVITIES IN AFGHANISTAN
KABOL 9 Jan. (IPS) Eighteen days after it came to power, an official from the new interim Afghan authority accused the neighbouring Islamic Republic of Iran of "stirring unrest" in the western provinces of the war-shattered nation by "distributing arms, money and seditious, propaganda material among local commanders".
The accusations came from Mr. Khaled Poshtoon, a spokesman for Haji Aqa, the Governor of Qandahar, the stronghold of fugitive Mollah Mohammad Omar, the former supreme leader of the collapsed Taleban regime.
Speaking to the Poshtoon and Persian service of the BBC, Mr. Poshtoon openly accused "high-ranking" officers of the Iranian revolutionary guards of "overt and covert seditious operations and interference" in Heart, Helmand and Zabol provinces, all situated at the Iranian borders.
The provinces and localities named by Mr. Poshtoon as being subject of "Iranian provocations" are ruled by Esma’il Khan, a veteran Afghan warlord who lived in Mash-had, the capital city of the Iranian north-eastern province of Khorasan during the Taleban era and is very close to the Iranian leadership.
"Based on information from local populations, Iranian intelligence and revolutionary guards agents are distributing arms, ammunition and money to local commanders and propaganda material aimed at tarnishing the image of the interim government, describing and presenting it as the emanation of American "koffar" (infidels), he said.
Though Mr. Poshtoon did not identified the "high-ranking Iranian Revolutionary guards officer, but the accusations did not surprised Iranian analysts, who had predicted that the Iranian clerical leadership would hardly accommodate the present Afghan government, made of devout, but modern Muslims, similar to the outlawed Iranian nationalist-religious, dedicated to establish a secular, democratic regime in their war-ravaged country.
In all speeches made after the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York and Washington that led to the American military intervention in Afghanistan, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, the leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran systematically attacked and denounced the US war, describing the September operations, attributed to Al Qa’eda, as an "American-Zionist plot aimed at destabilising the Iranian regime".
Mr. Poshtoon’s accusations against the Islamic Republic came as other Afghan sources disclosed that some top Taleban and Al Qa’eda officials had fled to either Pakistan or Iran, confirming an earlier report by this new service that Tehran had sheltered several high-ranking members of the former Afghan regime and Osama Ben Laden’s organisation.
According to Khaled Poshtoon, not only local populations refused to co-operate with the Iranian agents, but on occasions had set fire to the food and other relief assistance offered by the Iranians.
Iran says it is sending food, medicines and humanitarian assistance to Heart and other bordering provinces of Afghanistan and is active in reconstructing the war-ravaged regions.
"We are concerned about this Iranian interference in our internal affairs and call on Iranian authorities to act responsibly and stop these subversive activities at once", he said.
Asked if the interim Administration had been informed of the Iranian activities, Mr. Poshtoon answered by the positive. "We informed them of what the Iranians are doing in western regions. As they expressed their deep concern, we now hope that both the central government and the foreign ministry would take necessary measures", he said.
Just a few hours earlier, Mr. Yunes Qanooni, the Interior Minister had informed that the government had ordered all armed men in Kabol to leave the city and return to their bases, except the police and official security forces.
"All people armed with weapons or ammunition are not allowed to walk in the streets," he said.
"All Northern Alliance military commanders should vacate any civilian housing they had seized or provide ownership documents of the houses", Qanooni ordered the thousands of loosely organised but heavily armed Northern Alliance troops that have occupied the Capital since the Taleban fled the city on 13 November.
In an indirect but clear reference to the Iranians, Mr. Qanooni attributed the climate of insecurity in Kabol and other major Afghan cities to "local armed men and foreign saboteurs" who profit from the absence of police and security structures.
"There are still elements of Al Qa’eda and the Taleban operating in Kabol, but there are also saboteurs taking orders from neighbouring nations working to destabilise the situation", said Mr. Qanooni, a chief negotiator at Bonn talks.
He also criticised the United Nations for having not provided the necessary security structures for the creation of a serious police force and restoring security, as promised by the Bonn agreements.
A British-led international security force, mandated by the United Nations, is gradually moving into Kabul and is expected eventually to number 4-5,000. Several European units have already joined the force. Turkey and Bulgaria on Wednesday announced plans to send 261 and 40 soldiers respectively.
The force has operated very tentatively and with full consent of Afghan authorities, in high contrast to the aggressive manhunt waged by U.S. bombers and Special Forces in the south and east of the country.
Meanwhile, Afghanistan's interim Premier Hamid Karzai pledged to control
inflation, promote industry and foreign investment, ease unemployment and
promote democracy.
In his first televised address to the nation since taking the oath on 22 December, Karzai laid out a brief blueprint for restoring economic and political stability in the country after 23 years of war.
"My first economic plans are to control inflation, manufacture and invent Afghan products, which will improve the economy and living standards, create jobs and raise the employment level", he said, speaking in Dari, or Afghan Farsi
"Fourth is to encourage and develop the private sector and the free market," he said. "This way we will create the conditions for the development of national and international business."
"The interim administration firmly supports the free market and competition", it has said, promising that his government woul reduce its interference in the economic affairs and encourage private initiatives".
He also estimated that the "biggest threat" to the peace and the security in the country was the excessive presence of weapons in the streets and called for the creation of a national army.
"The right of possessing weapons is the biggest obstacle to a lasting peace and to the security in our country" he further declared.
"The social and economic progress in our country will depend on a market economy and the development of the private sector", he added.
"The Afghan constitution "guarantees the freedom of speech and the press, as well as the political and social freedoms, he added.
He said his government would stop the printing of unsupported Afghani banknotes. Several different groups have printed Afghan currency in recent years, leading to a proliferation of Afghanis, which are not backed by the government.
Karzai also said the interim administration would not restrict the media on the condition that they did not damage national interests.
Karzai, a Poshtoon tribal leader, said he regretted the many civilian casualties of U.S. bombing but insisted it had to continue until all those who had used the country as a base for violent action around the world had been captured.
In another development, Washington confirmed Wednesday the crash of a KC-130 refuelling plane in Pakistan, killing all its seven crew.
"I can confirm that there has been a plane crash in Pakistan involving a KC-130", White House spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters, saying President Bush had been informed.
He gave no further details, saying the U.S. Department of Defence was investigating the crash. ENDS AFQANESTAN IRAN ACCUSATIONS 9102