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Why Iran is busy cultivating friendly relations with Taliban?
Tehrān : Iran | Sep 30, 2011 at 12:18 PM PDT
By StephenManual
Iran, once considered hostile to Taliban and their agenda in Afghanistan, is now doing its utmost to reconcile with them. Rather, it will be best to say Iranian authorities have been striving to win confidence of Taliban leaders based in Afghanistan in order to protect their national and strategic interests in the region.
If we look at the history of Iran-Afghanistan relations, it comes up that two states have never enjoyed friendly and cordial relations owing to one reason or another. In the 90s, when Taliban were gaining influence in Afghanistan, Iran supported the Northern Alliance against them. The two countries later came close to war in 1998, when Taliban were in power, but the disaster was averted after intervention by a "neighboring" country.
But now the things are fast going in opposite directions of what happened in late 90s. The neighboring countries of Afghanistan including Pakistan, Iran, India and China have been devising their own strategies for the war-ravaged Afghanistan to maintain their control over their supported factions of militants. The United States announced to start withdrawing its troops from the volatile country in 2012 and the process would be completed in 2014, leaving all the security matters to Afghan Security Forces.
Ten years down the line, it appears NATO and US forces have failed to establish peace in the country. The threat of terrorism to the world has grown many times instead of decreasing.
One reason behind the US’ failure in making Afghanistan a stable place could be the proxy wars being fought by different countries with their own set of agendas. Different factions of militants and terrorists of different hues are being supported and armed by spy agencies of different countries. One of their agendas may be to defeat the US in Afghanistan through proxy wars, but could they succeed in their designs?
In mid-September, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei organized the Islamic Awakening Conference in Tehran wherein around 700 scholars, political figures and renowned personalities from around the world participated. Burhanuddin Rabbani, a prominent and respected figure from Afghanistan participated in the conference that was apparently aimed at finding ways to bring peace in the volatile Afghanistan.
Two days after attending the conference, Rabbani was killed by a man posing as a Taliban interlocutor. To cut the long story short, Iran fears a hostile reaction from Afghanistan after the US forces withdraw from the country in 2014. Therefore, Iranian authorities are busy cultivating friendly relations with Taliban who definitely would be important players in Afghanistan’s politics and other matters of national interest after the US withdrawal.
The United States should also do its best in arming and training the Afghan national security forces, so that they could handle the situation at their own after 2014. It will be in the interest of the US and neighboring countries if a stable, peaceful, progressive and liberal Afghanistan comes into being after ten years of war, though it appears to be a daunting task.
Tehrān : Iran | Sep 30, 2011 at 12:18 PM PDT
By StephenManual
Iran, once considered hostile to Taliban and their agenda in Afghanistan, is now doing its utmost to reconcile with them. Rather, it will be best to say Iranian authorities have been striving to win confidence of Taliban leaders based in Afghanistan in order to protect their national and strategic interests in the region.
If we look at the history of Iran-Afghanistan relations, it comes up that two states have never enjoyed friendly and cordial relations owing to one reason or another. In the 90s, when Taliban were gaining influence in Afghanistan, Iran supported the Northern Alliance against them. The two countries later came close to war in 1998, when Taliban were in power, but the disaster was averted after intervention by a "neighboring" country.
But now the things are fast going in opposite directions of what happened in late 90s. The neighboring countries of Afghanistan including Pakistan, Iran, India and China have been devising their own strategies for the war-ravaged Afghanistan to maintain their control over their supported factions of militants. The United States announced to start withdrawing its troops from the volatile country in 2012 and the process would be completed in 2014, leaving all the security matters to Afghan Security Forces.
Ten years down the line, it appears NATO and US forces have failed to establish peace in the country. The threat of terrorism to the world has grown many times instead of decreasing.
One reason behind the US’ failure in making Afghanistan a stable place could be the proxy wars being fought by different countries with their own set of agendas. Different factions of militants and terrorists of different hues are being supported and armed by spy agencies of different countries. One of their agendas may be to defeat the US in Afghanistan through proxy wars, but could they succeed in their designs?
In mid-September, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei organized the Islamic Awakening Conference in Tehran wherein around 700 scholars, political figures and renowned personalities from around the world participated. Burhanuddin Rabbani, a prominent and respected figure from Afghanistan participated in the conference that was apparently aimed at finding ways to bring peace in the volatile Afghanistan.
Two days after attending the conference, Rabbani was killed by a man posing as a Taliban interlocutor. To cut the long story short, Iran fears a hostile reaction from Afghanistan after the US forces withdraw from the country in 2014. Therefore, Iranian authorities are busy cultivating friendly relations with Taliban who definitely would be important players in Afghanistan’s politics and other matters of national interest after the US withdrawal.
The United States should also do its best in arming and training the Afghan national security forces, so that they could handle the situation at their own after 2014. It will be in the interest of the US and neighboring countries if a stable, peaceful, progressive and liberal Afghanistan comes into being after ten years of war, though it appears to be a daunting task.
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