-Caveat Lector-
From
http://www.middleeastwire.com/iran/stories/20020221_1_meno.shtml
}}}>Begin
Iran
Iran/U.S.: Tensions High As Nations Compete For Influence In
Afghanistan
Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty (RFE/RL)
By Charles Recknagel
Posted Thursday February 21, 2002 - 03:18:58 AM EST
Prague - Washington is casting a worried eye on Iran's activities in
western Afghanistan, where U.S. officials say Tehran is trying to
expand its influence at the expense of the interim administration.
U.S. President George W. Bush's special envoy for Afghanistan, Zalmay
Khalilzad, has repeatedly charged in recent weeks that elements
within Iran are helping to arm and finance groups within Afghanistan
in a bid to establish pockets of influence and discourage cooperation
with the government in Kabul.
Speaking to the BBC in mid-February, and repeating many of the same remarks later to
the U.S. Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), Khalilzad said hard-line elements around
Iran's spiritual leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and
the country's Revolutionary Guard Corps are funneling weapons, funds, and
Iranian-trained Afghan Shiite combatants into western Iran and elsewhere. He said the
purpose is to create what he termed centers of Iranian influe
nce in Herat some 80 kilometers from the Iranian border and in surrounding provinces.
Khalilzad said that, specifically, Iran has dispatched a group of Afghan Shiites
trained in Lebanon and called Sipah-e-Mohammad, or Mohammad's Soldiers, to
Afghanistan, along with members of the Al Qods division of the Re
volutionary Guard Corps.
At the same time, the U.S. envoy who would not specify the source of his information
said some elements of the Revolutionary Guard Corps had helped members of Al-Qaeda
escape from Afghanistan to Iran. He said some members
of the Revolutionary Guard Corps had long- standing links to the Al-Qaeda terrorist
network and were helping the fleeing fighters to travel on from Iran to other
destinations abroad. Other U.S. officials, including Defen
se Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, first charged Iran with aiding fleeing Al- Qaeda members
in January.
The Iranian reaction to the U.S. charges has been sharp but sometimes contradictory.
In February, Iran's Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali Yunesi said no members
of Al-Qaeda had entered Iran and none would dare to do so. And Iran's Foreign Minister
Kamal Kharrazi challenged the United States to pr
ovide any evidence that fugitive fighters were passing into the country.
But more recently, Iranian state news agency IRNA quoted anonymous officials as saying
Tehran had arrested 150 people suspected of having links to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban
at its border with Pakistan. Within days after th
at report, however, Kharrazi said the 150 arrested foreigners were not members of
Al-Qaeda. The Foreign Ministry also termed information that Washington had provided in
response to Tehran's challenge as "old, wrong, and i
mprecise." Analysts say that U.S.-Iranian tensions over Afghanistan are high for
several reasons.
One is the states' continuing rivalry on the world stage as Washington accuses Tehran
of supporting terrorist groups in the Middle East and seeking nuclear weapons. That
rivalry has now been exacerbated on the regional le
vel by the presence of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, as well as support troops in
Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, as part of Washington's war on terror. Iran sees the
deployments as a threatening buildup of American military pow
er in what Tehran has historically considered its own backyard.
William Samii, a regional specialist at RFE/RL, says still another important reason
for the heightened U.S.-Iranian tensions is Washington's conviction that much of
Tehran's Afghan policy is in the hands of hard-line elem
ents eager for confrontation with Washington. Samii says U.S. envoy Khalilzad recently
expressed that view when he said Iran is pursuing what he termed parallel
"constructive" and "negative" policies in Afghanistan.
"Late last year and again in January, Khalilzad and State Department officials praised
Iran's reformist-dominated Foreign Ministry for pursuing what they called a
constructive role in helping move the rival parties in Afg
hanistan to join the UN-brokered interim administration during the Bonn negotiations
that were held in early December," Samii says.
"But at an early January press conference in Kabul that I attended, Khalilzad said
that some of Iran's activities in Afghanistan were worrisome," Samii adds. "Khalilzad
and other American officials later said that Iran's
Ministry of Intelligence and Security and its Revolutionary Guard Corp are working to
undermine the interim administration by strengthening Herat Governor Ismail Khan by
providing him with funds, arms, and additional figh
ters." The analyst says that to counter this perceived buildup, U.S. forces are
competing directly on the ground with Iran for influence over some factional or
regional militias.
"In northern Afghanistan, Iranian agents reportedly are arming [ethnic Uzbek General
Abdulrashid] Dostum's faction, whereas in the central highlands around Bamiyan, U.S.
special forces are active and the [Afghan Shiite faction] Hezbe Wahdat has openly
sided with the U.S. What this indicates to me is that the nature of alliances in
Afghanistan is still very fluid," Samii says.
Samii says Iran is trying to continue to maintain military ties with powerful players
like Herat Governor Khan and the Hezbe Wahdat faction in order to retain influence it
built with them during the Taliban years, when Te
hran, along with Russia, was a main backer of the anti-Taliban opposition. That
opposition is now in power in Kabul as part of the UN-brokered interim administration,
which is strongly supported by the West and particular
ly the U.S.
"Iran apparently is trying to keep all its options, because it sees Washington
building up its influence in Kabul. The hard-liners in Iran are maintaining a back
channel of military aid to sympathetic Afghan factions," Sa
mii says. "But at the same time, Tehran is officially working to increase its
influence through cooperative state- to-state programs with the interim
administration." One of Iran's official programs is to help Kabul impro
ve its state television system, which affords Iran a window for presenting a favorable
image of itself to the Afghan public. Part of Tehran's aid is providing the state TV
with Iranian films, which are understandable to m
uch of the Afghan population. Tehran also plans to cooperate with Kabul's official
Bakhtar news agency.
So far, despite the frequent U.S. charges of Iranian interference in Afghanistan, the
interim government in Kabul has publicly maintained that it sees no signs of Iran
meddling in the country's domestic affairs.
Interim administration head Hamid Karzai is due to visit Iran next
week. Iran's Foreign Minister Kharrazi told Reuters on 18 February
that he believes Karzai's upcoming visit "will strengthen bilateral
ties and help stabilize [Karzai's] government." Karzai's visit likely
means that the current frictions between Washington and Tehran over
Afghanistan will continue for the foreseeable future. As Kharrazi
also said on 18 February, Iran is "resolved to continue [its]
presence in Afghanistan." And that kind of promise can only increase
worries in Washington about whether Tehran's presence ultimately will
prove constructive or negative to its own interests.
© 2001 Radio Free Europe – Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). This news item is
distributed via Middle East News Online (MiddleEastWire.com).
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material
is distributed without charge or profit to those who have
expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information
for non-profit research and educational purposes only.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking
new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled
one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller,
German Writer (1759-1805)
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
It is preoccupation with possessions, more than anything else, that
prevents us from living freely and nobly. -Bertrand Russell
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Everyone has the right...to seek, receive and impart
information and ideas through any media and regardless
of frontiers."
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
