Tehran, March 15: Iran appears to be in a fix over the future of Afghanistan.
Tehran opposes the presence of the US-led forces and see them as a threat to its regional interests, but is equally troubled by any possible return of Taliban or even its participation in ruling the country after the pullout of the foreign forces.
“We are against all kind of extremism. We neither want foreign forces nor the return of the extremism that existed there before 9/11,” Deputy Foreign Minister for Asia Mohammad Ali Fatahullahi told.
Fatahullahi avoided stating directly that his country would not support a possible return of Taliban to power or giving them a key role in future’s Afghanistan.
However, his thrust of the arguments was that Iran wants a solution whereby foreign forces leave its war-stricken country neighboring country and a broad-based government installed there rather than the return of the Taliban regime.
During a visit to Kabul Wednesday, March 10, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at the US and accused it of playing a double game in Afghanistan.
“We do not see the presence of foreign military forces in Afghanistan as a solution for peace in Afghanistan,” he told a joint news conference with Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai.
The Iranian leader has repeatedly called on US-led troops to leave Afghanistan, which has close ethnic and religious ties to Iran.
“Our policy is full support for the Afghan people and Afghan government and reconstruction of Afghanistan and we will continue this support in the future.”
Despite their rivalry, Iran and the US are united by animosity towards Sunni Taliban, which ruled Afghanistan from 1996 before being ousted in the 2001 US-led invasion.
Shiite Iran was a major supporter of the Northern Alliance, a conglomerate of anti-Taliban forces, which allied with the Americans in the fight against Taliban.
It had also been supporting Hizb-e-Wahdat, the only Shiite group that fought against the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and later joined the Northern Alliance against Taliban.
Ismail Khan, a guerilla leader who has strong base in the western Heart province, which borders Iran, has also been the blue-eyed boy of Tehran.
Iran sees Hekmatyar as a possible main player in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of foreign troops. (Google photo)
Options
Analysts believe Iran is thinking about its future role in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of the foreign forces, but it has very limited choices if it bypasses Taliban.
The Hizb-e-Wahdat is marginalized to the northern Bamyan province, the only Shiite-dominated Afghan province, while Ismail Khan has no influence outside Heart.
“Taliban are an important factor in Afghanistan. It is almost impossible to simply minus them,” a senior official told wishing not to be named.
“However, we do not want their leading role in the future setup so that they could not lead the country to extremism once again.”
Background interviews with Iranian Foreign Ministry officials suggest Tehran depends heavily on former premier and leader of Hizb-e-Islami Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who has strong roots in the entire northeastern and southeastern Afghan belt.
“Hekmatyar is very much acceptable to us if he is given a role in future setup,” said the senior official.
“He is equally playing a leading role in the ongoing resistance movement. It’s just that his name is being taken after Taliban because Americans have ousted Taliban regime and they consider them the main rival.”
Hekmatyar left Afghanistan in 1996 along with then President Burhanuddin Rabbani after Taliban captured Kabul and declared Afghanistan an Islamic emirate.
Rabbani chose to fight Taliban from the platform of Northern Alliance while Hekmatyar ordered his supporters not to resist Taliban.
Once the blue-eyed boy of the Pakistani establishment, Hekmatyar initially stayed in Peshawar, the capital of the North West Frontier Province, but left to Tehran a few months later after sensing he no longer had a place in Pakistan.
His supporters claim he left after nosing a conspiracy by Pakistani intelligence agencies to kill him for not supporting the Taliban regime.
Hekmatyar stayed in Tehran and was treated as prime minister till the ouster of Taliban in 2001.
He left Tehran and joined the fight against the US-led forces in the early months of 2002 following the fall of capture.
“He (Hekmatyar) is anti-American but not a hardliner like Taliban,” said the Iranian official.
“He is not against any sect or women education or their participation in normal course of life,” he added, referring to alleged hardline Taliban stand against Shiites in northern Afghanistan, especially the Hazara community.
“Hekmatyar has the capability to lead the country but certainly not alone. We will support a broad-based national government comprising all the segments of Afghan society.”
–Agencies–