Iranians, Afghans Attempt Diplomacy

Tension Not Evident At Embassy Reception

By Pamela Constable

Washington Post Foreign Service

Tuesday, February 12, 2002; Page A13

KABUL, Afghanistan, Feb. 11 -- The chatter was cordial, the platters of sweets and fruit plentiful and the occasion a remarkable exercise in diplomacy between a fragile host government and a neighbor that has been widely accused of trying to undermine it.

The Embassy of Iran today celebrated the 23rd anniversary of its country's Islamic revolution, and the elegant reception was attended by top Afghan officials and several conservative Sunni Muslim leaders hostile to Shiite Muslim Iran.

As Ambassador Mohammad Ebrahim Taherian and other Iranian diplomats greeted their Afghan guests, there was little hint of the hostility and suspicion that have recently dominated bilateral relations, with some Afghan officials accusing Iran of spreading money and weapons in an effort to destabilize the fledgling interim government.

"We want to support peace and stability in Afghanistan, and we are playing a positive role here. We have done nothing wrong," said one Iranian diplomat, joking that he hoped the reception would be covered by the media "so people can see we do not have any tanks."

Mistrust between the two countries stems partly from religious differences: Afghanistan is dominated by Sunnis and 95 percent of Iranians are Shiite.

Perhaps more important, Afghan leaders resented Iran's backing of factional leaders who participated in the fratricidal conflict that followed the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan in 1989. When the Taliban, a radical Sunni movement, rose to power here in the mid-1990s, Afghanistan and Iran approached the brink of war.

On the other hand, many of the new Afghan government's leaders served with the Northern Alliance, a coalition of militia groups that opposed the Taliban and drew support from Iran. But hopes that the ties between Tehran and the former alliance commanders would bring Afghanistan and Iran closer have been shaken in recent weeks. Iran has repeatedly been accused by officials in Kabul and Washington of excessive interference in Herat, a border province controlled by a powerful pro-Iranian governor, and of propping up renegade commanders in southern Afghanistan who oppose the interim government.

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell accused Iran of trying to destabilize the Kabul government, and in his recent State of the Union address, President Bush included Iran among an "axis of evil" along with Iraq and North Korea.

Iran has reacted angrily to the Bush administration's charges, and in Tehran today, thousands of demonstrators chanting anti-American slogans filled the streets in response to a call by Iranian leaders for national protests.

In contrast, Iranian officials seem eager to demonstrate to Afghanistan that they support the new government in Kabul -- and not only by inviting its officials to a patriotic celebration.

Over the weekend, Iran took several steps to curb the influence of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a former Afghan warlord who now lives in Iran and heads an armed religious movement opposed to the interim government here. On Sunday, Tehran reportedly closed Hekmatyar's offices in two Iranian cities and was considering expelling him from the country.

At today's reception, the presence of numerous high-level Afghan officials also seemed to signal Afghanistan's desire for rapprochement with a powerful neighbor and major trading partner that shelters more than 2 million Afghan refugees.

For well over an hour, Afghan Interior Minister Yonus Qanooni, several other cabinet ministers and the deputy foreign minister mingled easily with their hosts and lingered, deep in conversation, over tea and pastries.

"We share a [560-mile] border and deep historic ties. It is natural for the Afghans to accept this invitation, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that their government will be strong and stable," said one Iranian guest. Another noted that Iran was one of the first countries to open an embassy in Kabul after the collapse of the Taliban in November.

Privately, though, one Afghan official in the room said Kabul remains suspicious of Iran's motives. "It is a nice event, but we are still not satisfied," he said. "They are still interfering. . . . We still don't trust them."