from Gen. David Petraeus, the US commander in Afghanistan.
The Islamic Republic surprised many people by changing its past position and agreeing to join 43 other countries in a coordinating group on Afghanistan. The group’s meeting was held in Rome this week with several mid-level Iranian officials attending.
Michael Steiner, the German who chaired the meeting, said he had the impression the Iranians “appreciated the transparency” of Petraeus’ PowerPoint briefing, which they watched “with interest.” Undoubtedly, it was the first time any of them had ever seen how Americans conduct briefings, although most of the world has copied the American system.
In the afternoon session, Mohammad-Ali Qanezadeh, director of Asian affairs in Iran’s Foreign Ministry, spoke up for a “holistic” approach, Steiner said, combining military, political and developmental aspects. That has been the American philosophy for years.
It wasn’t known why Iran changed its mind and decided to join the group after years of ignoring invitations.
A week before the meeting, Iran arrested several Afghan border guards who drove across the unmarked border. Iran said they took seven Afghan Army personnel into custody. Afghanistan said 10 were seized.
Iran said they were 50 meters inside Iran.
Afghanistan did not dispute that they had crossed the border, but said they were patrolling during a dust storm.
Iranian Border Police Commander Hossain Zolfaqari said the Afghans didn’t have a proper license plate, drove across the border into Sistan va Baluchestan province and stopped when they were fired upon by Iranian border police. A week later, they were still being detained.