Bulletin de liaison etd'information - Institut kurde de Paris

Revue de Presse-Press Review-Berhevoka
Çapê-Rivista Stampa-Dentro de la Prensa-Basm Ozeti
government, which is 'led by
Hamid Karzai, a Pashtun. ,
European and, United Nations
diplomatseredit Iran wi~h helP.
ing~achieve~success_in. the Bonn
conference lUldlater encouraging.
the two' ambivalent warlords:,to
make compromises and support
Mr KarzaL According' to diplomats,
it was Tehran that persuaded
Ismail Khan ~t' the last
moment to attend the 'inauguration
in Kabul of theinterim government.
and even supplied an,
aircraftto get him there.
In return, through Iran's medi-
'ation, Ismail Khan has been con~'
fIrmed by Kabul as governor' of
Herat province, although not of
all the five eastern provinces to
which he had aspirations. The
veteran mujahideen fighter has
also been named as commander
of the 7th corps of the new
national army, which is in the
process of being. formed. For his
part, ,MrDostum, an ethnic
Uzbek,'has been appointed deputy
defence minister. '
Iranian diplomacy also played
a key .role when Northern Allianceforces
were about' toenter
Iranian diplomacy
played a key role
when Northern
Alliance forces were
about to enter Kabul
KabUl in mid-November. Burhapuddin
Rabbani, the alliance
leader and UN'r1icognised"president"
of Afghanistan, declared
his--intention. to liberate tb.e.sity
but rivaIs within his coalition
threatened to arrest him. It was a
critlèà1 'moment, with the looseknit
alliance, in effect acting as
ground forces for the US, on the
verge of disintegration. According
to diplomats, it was an iranian
E!nVOY who secured a deaL
Mr Rabbani would enter the city
but he also' agreed to issue a
statement declaring his intention
to hand over power to a broadbased
government, which he did.
European diplomats are sceptical
that Iran would harbour al-
Qaeda elements ,loyal, to Osama.
bin Ladlm the Saudi-born exile.
Iran closed its border with
Afghanistan as soon as the US
launched its military campaign,
not just to keep out an expected
wave of refugees but also to prevent
Arab sympathisers transiting
Iran. Several were arrested.
Iranian officials privately
admit' that some members of al.
Qaeda may have escaped through
Iran with the help of traffickers
of drugs and people. But they
reject any complicity, arguing
that Shia han has waged a
largely hidden struggle with the
Sunni extremists of al.Qaeda for
several years. Iran came,close to
war withlhe' Taiiban in 1998
after ,eight Iranian officials and
ori~ journalist were murdered in
Mâzar~e-Sharif.
Despite a general conviction
within the UN that Iran is
playing a positive role in supporting
the intèrim governlJ1ent,Kofi
Annan, 'UN secret~ry.general,
recently visited Tehran seelililgfurther
assurances. Concerns had
been raised by speeches made by
two influential clerics close to Mr
Khamenei, who is widely seen as
allied with the conservative fac-
~on opposed to the reform pro.
gramme of Mr Khatami.
The clerics questioned the
"Bonn process and the, motives
behind pledges of aid for Afghanistan,
while labelling Mr Karzai a
puppet of the US and the UN. Mr
Khamenei gave a rare audience
to Mr Annan, one that focused
largely on denouncing US foreign
policy in' Palestine and its
attempts to misuse the UN. He
described the US Central Intelligence
'Agimcy as "one of the
worId's~mOst impàrtànf terrorist
centres".
The supreme leader iscon-
.cerned that the US will maintain
a permanent military presence in
Afghanistan, as it did in Saudi
Arabia after the 1991 Gulf war
with Iraq. Mr Khamenei insisted
that Iran seriously supported the
establishment of security in
Afghanistan and had a duty to
help in rebuilding the country, as
seen in Iran's pledge of $530m
(€613m) in grants and loans at
the Tokyo donors' conference,
According to a UN official, Mr
Annan left Tehran with the
assurances he wanted. Diplomats
engage