Subject: Iran, Pakistan to "coordinate" their policies towards Afghanistan
                   
 TEHRAN, Dec 9 (AFP) - Iran and Pakistan will "coordinate" their  policies on Afghanistan, where they support opposing sides, to establish peace in their joint neighbour, Pakistani military ruler General Pervez Musharraf said here Thursday.
   "On Afghanistan, we agreed to coordinate the policies of our two  countries for encouraging the peace process through reconciliation and dialogue among the Afghan parties," Musharraf said in a statement faxed to the AFP bureau in Tehran.
   "We reaffirmed our support for the establishment of a  broad-based, representative, and multi-ethnic government in accordance with the wishes of the Afghan people," he said.
   "I have no doubt that the traditional friendship between our two  countries will continue to promote deeper and broader cooperation in all spheres. Pakistan-Iran collaboration is fundamental to regional peace and stability," Musharraf stressed.
   The Pakistani leader arrived in Tehran late Wednesday on his  first trip to Iran for talks with senior Iranian officials, including President Mohammad Khatami and Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi, when both sides stressed the need to bolster ties between their two countries.
   Early Thursday, Musharraf held a meeting with Iran's supreme  leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, during which he vowed to exert all "efforts for the removal of the existing obstacles blocking the way to expansion of bilateral ties."
   Before leaving the capital for the eastern city of Mashhad,  close to the border with Afghanistan, the military ruler affirmed that he was a "supporter of true democracy."
   "Democracy did not exist in Pakistan," Musharraf said assuring  his country and the world that he would "present the people of Pakistan with the gift of democracy."
   Informed sources said the Pakistani leader would meet Afghan  opposition members for talks on the political situation in Kabul during his visit to the holy city of Mashhad.
   Relations between Tehran and Islamabad have been strained over  the protracted civil war in Afghanistan in which the two governments support opposing sides.
   Islamabad is a major backer of the Sunni Muslim fundamentalist  Taliban militia, which control most of Afghanistan.
   Shiite Muslim Iran says the Taliban are a barbarous stain on  Islam and blames them for the murder of eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist during the militia's seizure of the northern Afghan town of Mazar-i-Sharif last year.
   Iran supports the ousted Afghan government of Burhanuddin  Rabbani and assists the Afghan opposition, especially its Shiite component.
   Tehran has also criticized Islamabad as a follower of the United  States and accused it of not doing enough to stop drug trafficking across their borders.
   Iran has declared all-out war on drug smugglers, most of whom  use the country as a transit point between growing fields in Pakistan and Afghanistan and markets in Europe.
   Tehran says the Taliban encourage drug production and smuggling  and benefit from it.
   But since Musharraf's coup on October 12, Islamabad has issued  reconciliatory-sounding statements.