December 26-2014
In a sign of policy change since Hassan Rohani took power, the Islamic Republic seems to be taking a softer line toward Afghanistan, ending years of pushiness and pontificating that have widely offended Afghans.
The biggest change is evident in Iran’s new silence on the US-Afghan relationship, a topic that once drew very critical remarks prompting many Afghan politicians to complain of Iranian interference in Afghanistan business.
Under President Ahmadi-nejad, Tehran overtly opposed the US military presence in Afghanistan. Iran was even accused by many Afghans of trying to sabotage the US-Afghanistan Strategic Partnership Agreement signed by President Barrack Obama and President Hamid Karzai in May 2012.
In March 2010, during a visit to Kabul, Ahmadi-nejad blamed the United States for the war in Afghanistan.
“Why is it that those who say they want to fight terrorism are never successful? I think it is because they are the ones who are playing a double game…. What are you even doing in this area? You are from 10,000 kilometers away. Your country is on the other side of the world. What are you doing here,” Ahmadi-nejad said.
But a few months ago, Afghanistan signed a new troop agreement with the United States to keep forces in Afghanistan after the previously planned end date of December 2014. And there was nary a peep out of Tehran.
Mohsin Melani, a professor of diplomatic studies at the University of South Florida, told the Voice of America Tehran’s language towards Afghanistan reflects Rohani’s desire to improve relations with the West.
“Iranian policy towards Afghanistan has always been based on the nature of Iran’s relations with the US. At least for the Islamic Republic, Afghanistan has been an important country in which both Iran and the US have major strategic interests,” he said.
Melani added that Afghanistan could prove an area where the US and Iran could test any improved ties.
“Now, the relationship between the US and Iran, at least on the rhetorical level, has changed—after the [September 2013] telephone conversation between President Obama and President Rohani. There is an attempt by both Washington and Tehran to see if they can agree on certain common objectives and goals and I am not surprised that the language of Tehran about Afghanistan has somehow changed.”
Ahmad Khalid Majidyar, a researcher at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, DC, told VOA the softer tone must have been endorsed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi.
“Major decisions concerning Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon are made by the Revolutionary Guards and particularly by the Qods Special Forces. Major foreign policy issues have also to be approved by the Leader of Iran, Mr. Khamenehi. The president cannot change Iran’s policies in the region unilaterally,” he said.
Emal Faizi, a spokesman for President Karzai, told VOA’s Dari Radio that the US-Afghan talks have been difficult because, as he put it, some “regional states” had opposed long-term US military bases in Afghanistan. Karzai, he says, has tried to convince Tehran that it is in Iran’s interest to have stability inside Afghanistan.
He said, “Afghanistan must not be a fighting ground for the rivals of Iran. Instead Afghanistan and the rival countries can create an environment of cooperation and all can cooperate in Afghanistan.”
Mohsin Melani said Iran’s interests in Afghanistan are varied.
“Number one, from an Iranian point of view, both from the time of the Shah and the Islamic Republic, Iran wants an Afghanistan that does not pose a national security threat to Iran. Secondly, I think Iran has invested heavily in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and they want to make sure that, whatever government is there, it does not impede the Iranian involvement. Finally, Iran wants to make sure that its allies—both elements of the Northern Alliance and the Hazaras, Shiites and others—are not marginalized in Afghanistan,” he said.
