Iranian President Pledges Support for Afghan Reconstruction

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Wednesday, August 14, 2002

Iranian President Pledges Support for Afghan Reconstruction

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami pledged Tuesday that his country would help the reconstruction of Afghanistan "in any way that is possible" and never interfere with the country's internal affairs.

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Khatami Visits Kabul

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami pledged Tuesday that his country would help the reconstruction of Afghanistan "in any way that is possible" and never interfere with the country's internal affairs.

Khatami, who arrived here Tuesday for his first one-day official visit to Kabul aimed at strengthening cooperation betweenthe two countries, told reporters that his country has been supporting and will continue trying its best to support its eastern neighbor.

"We have always supported Afghanistan and we have never intended to interfere in this country," he said in a joint press conference with his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai after their talks.

"We always supported them during their suffering years, in Bonn,in Geneva and in all fields. Actually we have helped to establish peace and security in this country. And today we feel ourselves working side by side with Afghanistan," said Khatami, adding "We consider peace and stability in this country is peace and stability in our country."

Karzai welcomed Khatami's visit, saying that the two countries have profound bonds of cultural, linguistic, historical and religious ties.

During the long years of war in this country, two million Afghan people have fled to Iran. "We are grateful the Afghan refugees (in Iran) were received with open arms and given essential facilities," said Karzai.

Khatami attached special importance to education in Afghanistanand promised help in this field.

"We have given more than 2,000 scholarships to this country forstudents to come to Iran for further education. So far, there are more than 6,000 students who have shown interest in taking part inthis project," he said.

He also said that Iran would help Afghanistan rebuild its agriculture and industry, and reconstruct the highway and railway from Iran to the Afghan western city of Herat.

He cited that a second international port will be opened between Iran and Afghanistan. And Iran will decrease the tax of goods imported by Afghanistan through Iran by 50 percent.

"Drug crops must be replaced (in Afghanistan)," he said. "Planting of drugs must be replaced by other legal crops. ... Iranian government will support this initiative."

Khatami called for the international community to play more active role and make quick efforts in the reconstruction process in Afghanistan.

"The international community should increase their help and assistance to this country, so that we can rebuild this country assoon as possible," he said

Turning to the political front and the fight against terrorism,Khatami said, "Afghanistan has suffered a lot from the rule of Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Afghanistan should not suffer any more. And it could only be possible by the cooperation from all the countries. And Iran is the country that provides full support in this respect."

"Iran has been the victim of terrorism also. Our struggle against terrorism goes back even further than the U.S. In certain cases, terrorist attempts against Iran are supported by some othercountries, including the U.S. In order to combat against terrorism,all the countries should join hands under the leadership of the United Nations," the president said.

Affirming that Iran will never be misused by the terrorist groups, he promised, "If some persons who might have links with terrorist groups enter the border of Iran, We will expatriate themto their own country. Iran is not a place for Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups."

On the US-Iran relations, the Iranian president criticized the United States of its "aggressive policies" and appealed for mutualunderstanding between Tehran and Washington, saying that Iran has made every effort to clear misunderstandings between Iran and other countries.

Khatami, who had originally planned to visit Afghanistan beforethe convening of the Afghan Loya Jirga in June, was accompanied bythe vice president, and foreign, economic and scientific ministers.

Since the Taliban regime took control of Kabul in 1996, Iran has enjoyed close relations with the former Northern Alliance, which played a major role in the anti-Taliban war and thus got a lion's share in power division in the Afghan transitional government.

Last week,Iranian parliament approved a bill of allocating 475million US dollars as financial aid to Afghanistan. Under the bill,the Iranian government will give the money to the Iranian contractors who will take part in the reconstruction projects in its eastern neighbor.

Iran has pledged a total of some 560 million dollars as financial aid to the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Since the collapse of the Taliban regime, Iran has seriously tried to take part in Afghanistan's reconstruction and capture itsmarkets by exporting its goods to the country.

According to the latest statistics, Iran's export to Afghanistan during the last four months amounted to 24 million dollars, with main export items being food and construction materials like cement.

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