President Rohani welcomed Afghan President Hamid Karzai to Tehran Sunday. They announced they have decided to negotiate a “Comprehensive Friendship and Cooperation Agreement,” to address political, security, economic and cultural relations. Rohani also lobbied Karzai not to sign any military agreement with the United States that will keep foreign troops in Afghanistan after 2014. Rohani said Iran is “opposed to the presence of any foreign force in the region, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf and especially the Islamic State of Afghanistan. He said European and American troops “should all depart and leave the security of Afghanistan to its own people.” A traditional Afghan congress of tribal and clan leaders last month approved an agreement to keep foreign troops in Afghanistan, deciding they were needed to train and guide Afghan troops in fighting the Taliban.
