US, Britain warn Iran on Afghan actions, say not time for new "Great Game"

Friday February 1, 8:18 AM AFP

The United States and Britain warned Iran against trying to excercise undue influence in Afghanistan, saying now was not the time for a new "Great Game."

US Secretary of State Colin Powell and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said their countries were keeping close watch on what Iran might be doing, particularly in western Afghanistan, where there have been reports Tehran may be arming warlords to counter the new government in Kabul.

"We are watching Iranian actions very closely," Powell told reporters after talks with Straw.

He noted that Iran had made positive contributions to efforts to create a post-Taliban government and to provide for Afghan reconstruction but said attempts to meddle with the power structure in Afghanistan would be unacceptable.

"We are also watching, with great interest, their activities in the western part of the country, the activities of parts of the Iranian government that might be trying to exercise undue influence over the new (Afghan) government," Powell said.

He would not comment on the veracity of the reports that elements of the Islamic government in Tehran, concerned that the interim Afghan administration headed by Hamid Karzai is too inclined to the west, are shipping weapons to pro-Iranian Afghan warlords to cement their influence.

But Powell said that when Iranian activities troubled Washington, the concerns were raised through "a variety of means" to tell them to stop.

"(We) let them know that this is not the time, this is not the time for the Great Game to start again," he said, referring to the espionage-filled battle for influence in Central Asia fought between Czarist Russia and Imperial Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries.

"All of Afghanistan's neighbors should work together now not to achieve new levers of influence over Afghan but to work together to provide hope to the Afghan people and bring that hope into being ... and not do things which tend to destabilize or in some way support any one faction against the goal of a representative national government," Powell said.

Straw agreed, noting that he had discussed the matter with Karzai earlier Thursday in London when the Afghan leader stopped in the British capital on his way home from a three-day stay in the United States where he was feted by President George W. Bush.

"We should stay engaged with the reformist government (and) at the same time, send out strong messages to other parts of the government of Iran about actions and support which we regard as unacceptable," Straw said.