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Iranian regime meddeling in Afghanistan alarms analysts

KABUL – Afghan parliamentarians and analysts are concerned about the Iranian regime’s machinations in Afghanistan.


“Iran is quite busy inventing crisis in Afghanistan,” Abdul Ghafoor Liwal, a writer and director of the Regional Study Centre in Kabul, said.


“Iran has two goals,” he told Central Asia Online. “First, it wants to create barriers to Western countries, and second, it wants to build up its own influence by establishing pro-Iran universities, religious seminaries and media outlets.”


Relying on violence to destabilise Afghanistan
Afghan Senator Haji Mohammad Nazir Ahmadzai on Towde Khabare (Hot Talk), a TOLO TV programme, October 26 accused Tehran of supporting insurgents in order to destabilise Afghanistan before its April elections.


Farah Province Deputy Governor Muhammad Younus Rasouli appeared on the same programme and supported Ahmadzai’s views, pointing to evidence of insurgents getting weapons from Iran and border arrests.


The Iranian regime is also using soft “weapons” to build up its influence, Liwal said.


“Iran has invested in Afghan media and supports those outlets if they deliver exaggerated support for its goals,” he said.


Besides undermining the Afghan media, the Iranian regime ships large quantities of Iranian newspapers into Afghanistan, he said. It even operates websites to promote Iranian ideology and defame Afghans unfriendly to Tehran’s efforts, he said.


Massoud Shirzad, an Afghan journalist, agreed.
“Iran wants to control Afghanistan through the media and through cultural and religious activities and … wants to build its influence here,” he said. He likened the presence of six Afghan TV stations and more than 15 radio stations backing Iranian views to a “cultural invasion.”


Calling for resistance
The Afghan government, including its Information and Culture Ministry and the National Directorate of Security, should thwart the Iranian schemes, Liwal suggested.


The Iranian regime’s relentless promotion of its ideology could create friction between the Afghan Sunni majority and Shia minority, other Afghan analysts and officials warn.


Tehran isn’t living up to a strategic co-operation agreement it signed with Afghanistan, Afghan parliamentarian Nader Khan Katwazai said. “We haven’t seen any progress from Iran,” he said.


Katwazai denounced Tehran’s attitude. “Most of the time it criticises us for hosting coalition forces,” he said. “It also opposes any bilateral security agreements with Western countries.”


“Iran simultaneously is trying to build relations with the Afghan government and with the Afghan Shia minority,” he said, citing a January article for BBC Pashtu by Amrullah Saleh, a former Afghan intelligence chief.


“Afghanistan is an independent country,” he continued. “We won’t allow any country to interfere in Afghanistan.”

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