Iranian president denies supporting the Taliban (1st Lead)

South Asia News

Aug 14, 2007, 11:47 GMT

Kabul - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday in a one-day visit to Afghanistan's capital Kabul rejected US accusations that Iran was supplying weapons to the Islamic extremist Taliban in Afghanistan. Saying Iran was supporting the Afghan government 'with all our might,' Ahmadinejad said an unstable security situation in the country would have repercussions on Iran. 'The best friend of Iran is a land, that is powerful, developed and secure,' he said. Ahmadinejad was making the visit to Afghanistan for talks on bilateral and regional issues with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai. During the first leg of a three-country tour, Ahmadinejad wanted to broaden existing ties between the neighbours, officials in Kabul and Tehran said. However, observers believe that the main purpose of his visit was to neutralize accusations by the United States and Britain. This includes alleged supplies of weapons to the insurgents, a charge that is hotly denied by Tehran, which rejects the claims as propaganda efforts to justify the 'illegitimate presence' of Western countries in Afghanistan. Before his visit, Ahmadinejad stressed that 'Iran and Afghanistan were not only neighbours, but brothers,' and that both countries had to expand their cooperation in the areas of security and development and thereby prevent 'further dominance by the US' in Afghanistan. Reconstruction work is also expected to feature in the Iranian leader's talks with Karzai, since Iran is a major donor of aid to Afghanistan. Other key issues included the presence of almost a million Afghan refugees in Iran and the expulsion by Tehran of illegal Afghan immigrants and other groups. This is Ahmadinejad's first visit to Afghanistan since he was elected in 2005. He was scheduled to continue his tour with a stop in oil and gas-rich Turkmenistan before travelling to Kyrgyzstan for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. The president is expected to request that Iran's status in the organization be raised from observer to full member. He is also expected to hold talks with leaders of full members of the six- country organization, which include Russia and China. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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johnAug 14th, 2007 - 12:09:02

he is either lying or has no idea what his military is doing. either way you can't trust the man.

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This does not even make senseAug 14th, 2007 - 18:05:27

Iran is Shia, and the Taliban is Sunni.

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Iranian president denies supporting the Taliban (1st Lead)

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