Iran's representative to an international conference here on Afghanistan criticized President Obama's plan to boost U.S. troops there but said Iran is "fully prepared" to participate in Afghan reconstruction projects and efforts to halt drug trafficking.
"The people of Afghanistan know their country better than anybody else does," Deputy Foreign Minister Mohammad Mehdi Akhundzadeh said, speaking in English Tuesday before a group of diplomats that included Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. "The presence of foreign forces has not improved things in the country, and it seems that an increase in the number of foreign forces will prove ineffective, too."
Clinton said his speech "set forth some very clear ideas that we will be pursuing together."
More than 70,000 U.S. and NATO troops are in Afghanistan battling the radical Islamic Taliban movement. Obama has ordered 17,000 extra troops to Afghanistan to discourage violence ahead of August elections and is sending an additional 4,000 troops to help train the Afghan army.
As to narcotics, Akhundzadeh said the "rising trend of poppy cultivation has overtaken that of combatting it." He called for "coordinated measures" and "strengthening regional cooperation" on border security to deal with the problem.
Clinton told a news conference that Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration's special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, had an unplanned but cordial exchange with Akhundzadeh at the Hague that they agreed to maintain contact.
She said the United States delivered a letter to Iran during the conference requesting humanitarian help for three Americans in Iran. Clinton identified them as Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who disappeared two years ago while visiting Iran's Kish Island; Roxana Saberi, an Iranian American freelance journalist who has been detained without charge since January; and Esha Momeni, an Iranian American graduate student and women's rights advocate who was arrested in Iran last year and has since been barred from leaving.
"Iran's remarks will be closely scrutinized by U.S. officials, who hope that the potential for cooperation on Afghanistan between Iran and the United States will begin to ease some of the long-standing tensions between the two countries. The conference was attended by more than 80 countries and international organizations.
Clinton pushed for the creation of the conference and for Iran's inclusion. In her address, she said:
"We must ... support efforts by the government of Afghanistan to separate the extremists of al Qaeda and the Taliban from those who have joined their ranks not out of conviction, but out of desperation."
But Clinton was critical of the Afghan government's tolerance of corruption. "Corruption is a cancer - as dangerous to our long-term success as the Taliban or al Qaeda," she said.
News Source: sfgate.com
