ID :
146606
Tue, 10/19/2010 - 15:36
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/146606
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Iran : Trust Afghan people, gov't in heeding Afghanistan affairs
Rome, Oct 19, IRNA – An international meeting on future of Afghanistan began in Rome Monday with Iran stressing anew its former stands on need for trusting Afghan people and government in heeding their own country’s affairs.
The international conference dubbed “stability of Afghanistan” that began behind closed doors in the presence of representatives from 46 countries, including Iran and the United States, and some international organizations, including the UN and NATO, is mainly aimed at seeking an end to nine years of newest round of wars in the war-torn country.
Among the officials participating at the event there are the IRI Foreign Minister in West Asian Affairs Mohammad-Ali Qanea’zadeh, Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul, the ISAF Commander General David Petraeus, the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy Steffan de Mistura, and dozens of other personalities from around the world who exchanged ideas about the matter.
Iran’s special envoy Qanea’zadeh emphasizing the need for Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan, said, “We believe the Afghans must be put in charge of the entire affairs in Afghanistan, because we know that Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan, or putting the Afghans in charge of the economic, reconstruction, security and… affairs in their own country would help in improving the conditions there drastically.”
He said that reintegration of the Afghan nation and launching a national reconciliation effort, too, is necessary there, adding, “Among the positive moves to make in Afghanistan there is establishing a consultative Louie Jirga and a supreme peace council, since we believe the extremists there are totalitarian and will not be pleased with anything, save for exerting their hegemony throughout the Afghan soil.”
Qanea’zadeh added, “Regarding the establishment of peace and national reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan we believe two parallel hardware and software approaches must be pursued in that country; the basis for any reconciliation effort should be the acceptance of the Constitution of Afghanistan and recognizing the achievements of the Afghan Government in past nine years.
It would be appropriate that that such a process would be managed by the Government of Afghanistan and pursued at all levels among the Afghans and in order to preserve such achievements an appropriate general plan and necessary guarantees are needed.”
The special IRI envoy at Afghanistan’s Future gathering in Italy then stressed the need to focus over security and reconstruction efforts simultaneously and to pursue them parallel with each other in Afghanistan, arguing, “Without achieving the objectives of security the development plans wont succeed and vice versa and unfortunately during the past nine years special attention has been paid to security and military issues, but the construction of infrastructures, employment issue, and training of skilled forces have not grown as effectively. This is one of the root causes for the lingering social problems and challenges there and collective efforts are needed for solving such problems.”
Qanea’zadeh referred to the existence of regional solutions for the conflict in Afghanistan, emphasizing, “The Islamic Republic of Iran believes regional solutions are the best for the entire regional conflicts, including the one in Afghanistan.”
He added, “Iran has thus far initiated many regional problem solving gatherings, particularly the tripartite Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan Summit, and ministerial conferences, and such moves would be pursued in regions in need of problem solving.”
Qanea’zadeh also referred to the six-sided gathering of the neighbors of Afghanistan and that country held in Tehran, arguing, “In line with some efforts the tripartite gathering with Afghanistan and Tajikistan was held and another conference is designed to be held with India and Pakistan.”
He emphasized, “The positive and constructive trend that is pursued in designing the regional initiatives, including the one aimed at problem solving in Afghanistan must be pursued relying on cooperation and support of the entire countries.”
The issue of establishing security and ensuring sufficient level of stability in order to pave the path for successful implementation of democracy; the strategic power transfer policy; contemplation over Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan and recognizing the legitimacy of Afghans in controlling and governing the entire Afghan soil; the role of the neighboring countries and the required prerequisites for the success of regional solutions were among the axes of discussions at the conference.
Iran has for the first time taken part in high-level discussions on Afghanistan after the US said it had 'no problem' with its participation, as an Iranian representative joined the international 'contact group' - which brings together the Afghan government, dozens of countries, the NATO, the EU and UN - for the talks in Rome.
It comes amid a renewed push to end the bloody nine-year Afghan conflict.
One senior US diplomat said Iran had 'a role to play' in tackling the problems. 'We recognize that Iran, with its long, almost completely open border with Afghanistan and with a huge drug problem... has a role to play in the peaceful settlement of this situation in Afghanistan,' Richard Holbrooke - the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan - told a news conference.
'So for the United States there is no problem with their presence.'
He said discussions would not be affected by the 'bilateral issues' of Iran's nuclear program, which Iran says is for purely civilian purposes.
The 'contact group' also invited the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents more than 50 states and promotes Muslim solidarity, to attend.
Germany's special envoy and chairman of the meeting Michael Steiner, too, said that the talks were aimed at moving towards 'a realistic aim, which is sufficient stability for Afghanistan and essential human rights'.
On the agenda was how to increase the handing over of responsibility for security to Afghan forces and the possibility of bringing insurgents - including the Taliban - into the peace negotiations.
These issues will be further explored at a NATO Summit in Lisbon next month. But Holbrooke said there would be no specific announcement of provinces that would be handed over to Afghan forces at the meeting.
'We're not going to lay out specific process,' he said. 'We're going to talk about the transition process in general.'/end
The international conference dubbed “stability of Afghanistan” that began behind closed doors in the presence of representatives from 46 countries, including Iran and the United States, and some international organizations, including the UN and NATO, is mainly aimed at seeking an end to nine years of newest round of wars in the war-torn country.
Among the officials participating at the event there are the IRI Foreign Minister in West Asian Affairs Mohammad-Ali Qanea’zadeh, Afghanistan’s Foreign Minister Zalmai Rasoul, the ISAF Commander General David Petraeus, the US Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke and the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy Steffan de Mistura, and dozens of other personalities from around the world who exchanged ideas about the matter.
Iran’s special envoy Qanea’zadeh emphasizing the need for Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan, said, “We believe the Afghans must be put in charge of the entire affairs in Afghanistan, because we know that Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan, or putting the Afghans in charge of the economic, reconstruction, security and… affairs in their own country would help in improving the conditions there drastically.”
He said that reintegration of the Afghan nation and launching a national reconciliation effort, too, is necessary there, adding, “Among the positive moves to make in Afghanistan there is establishing a consultative Louie Jirga and a supreme peace council, since we believe the extremists there are totalitarian and will not be pleased with anything, save for exerting their hegemony throughout the Afghan soil.”
Qanea’zadeh added, “Regarding the establishment of peace and national reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan we believe two parallel hardware and software approaches must be pursued in that country; the basis for any reconciliation effort should be the acceptance of the Constitution of Afghanistan and recognizing the achievements of the Afghan Government in past nine years.
It would be appropriate that that such a process would be managed by the Government of Afghanistan and pursued at all levels among the Afghans and in order to preserve such achievements an appropriate general plan and necessary guarantees are needed.”
The special IRI envoy at Afghanistan’s Future gathering in Italy then stressed the need to focus over security and reconstruction efforts simultaneously and to pursue them parallel with each other in Afghanistan, arguing, “Without achieving the objectives of security the development plans wont succeed and vice versa and unfortunately during the past nine years special attention has been paid to security and military issues, but the construction of infrastructures, employment issue, and training of skilled forces have not grown as effectively. This is one of the root causes for the lingering social problems and challenges there and collective efforts are needed for solving such problems.”
Qanea’zadeh referred to the existence of regional solutions for the conflict in Afghanistan, emphasizing, “The Islamic Republic of Iran believes regional solutions are the best for the entire regional conflicts, including the one in Afghanistan.”
He added, “Iran has thus far initiated many regional problem solving gatherings, particularly the tripartite Iran-Afghanistan-Pakistan Summit, and ministerial conferences, and such moves would be pursued in regions in need of problem solving.”
Qanea’zadeh also referred to the six-sided gathering of the neighbors of Afghanistan and that country held in Tehran, arguing, “In line with some efforts the tripartite gathering with Afghanistan and Tajikistan was held and another conference is designed to be held with India and Pakistan.”
He emphasized, “The positive and constructive trend that is pursued in designing the regional initiatives, including the one aimed at problem solving in Afghanistan must be pursued relying on cooperation and support of the entire countries.”
The issue of establishing security and ensuring sufficient level of stability in order to pave the path for successful implementation of democracy; the strategic power transfer policy; contemplation over Afghanizing the affairs in Afghanistan and recognizing the legitimacy of Afghans in controlling and governing the entire Afghan soil; the role of the neighboring countries and the required prerequisites for the success of regional solutions were among the axes of discussions at the conference.
Iran has for the first time taken part in high-level discussions on Afghanistan after the US said it had 'no problem' with its participation, as an Iranian representative joined the international 'contact group' - which brings together the Afghan government, dozens of countries, the NATO, the EU and UN - for the talks in Rome.
It comes amid a renewed push to end the bloody nine-year Afghan conflict.
One senior US diplomat said Iran had 'a role to play' in tackling the problems. 'We recognize that Iran, with its long, almost completely open border with Afghanistan and with a huge drug problem... has a role to play in the peaceful settlement of this situation in Afghanistan,' Richard Holbrooke - the US special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan - told a news conference.
'So for the United States there is no problem with their presence.'
He said discussions would not be affected by the 'bilateral issues' of Iran's nuclear program, which Iran says is for purely civilian purposes.
The 'contact group' also invited the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC), which represents more than 50 states and promotes Muslim solidarity, to attend.
Germany's special envoy and chairman of the meeting Michael Steiner, too, said that the talks were aimed at moving towards 'a realistic aim, which is sufficient stability for Afghanistan and essential human rights'.
On the agenda was how to increase the handing over of responsibility for security to Afghan forces and the possibility of bringing insurgents - including the Taliban - into the peace negotiations.
These issues will be further explored at a NATO Summit in Lisbon next month. But Holbrooke said there would be no specific announcement of provinces that would be handed over to Afghan forces at the meeting.
'We're not going to lay out specific process,' he said. 'We're going to talk about the transition process in general.'/end
