Is Iran meddling in Afghanistan?

President Hamid Karzai, in meetings in Washington this week, said Iran is a valuable ally. But Afghan officials have grown increasingly wary of their Western neighbor.

By Mark Sappenfield | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the August 8, 2007 edition

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Islam Qala, Afghanistan - Iran's broadening influence beyond its border with Iraq, together with its pursuit of nuclear technology, has Europe and the US on alert.

Now, its role along its opposite border here in Afghanistan is facing scrutiny, as well. It was a source of disagreement between President Bush and Afghan President Hamid Karzai during the past two days of talks at Camp David.

Mr. Karzai told CNN just before his meeting with Bush that Iran "has been a helper and a solution."

But key members of the Bush administration disagree, with Mr. Bush saying Aug. 6 that the burden was on Iran to prove that it is not a "destabilizing force."

Both views could be correct, say experts and Afghan officials, and they reflect the subtlety of Iran's efforts to play both sides – to support the fledgling Karzai government, yet also to secure its own strategic aims in the region and beyond.

The interception of Iranian-made weapons in Afghanistan, as well as reports of increased insurgent activity along the Iranian border, are seen as a message to the West, in particular.

"They're saying, 'We're cooperating on the ground,' " says Amin Tarzi, director of Middle East Studies at Marine Corps University in Quantico, Va. " 'But we can make a mess for you much bigger than Iraq' " if Europe and the US keep threatening action against Iran's nuclear program.

Iran plays two games in Afghanistan

Since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, Iran has been a useful neighbor to Afghanistan, maintaining peace along its border and undertaking a variety of development projects, particularly here in the border province of Herat.

Given that Iran and the Taliban were enemies who nearly went to war in 1998, "Iran benefited from the fall of the Taliban, too," says Sultan Ahmad Baheen, spokesman for the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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