Afghanistan News February 8, 2005

February 8, 2005

Snow Thwarts Plans at Afghan Crash Site
Tue Feb 8, 4:30 AM ET By AMIR SHAH, Associated Press Writer
BUT KHAK, Afghanistan - Fresh snow dimmed hopes on Tuesday that troops could retrieve the first bodies from the wreckage of an Afghan jetliner that crashed into a freezing mountaintop last week with the apparent loss of all 104 people on board.

NATO soldiers on Monday found human remains but no survivors at the crash site 20 miles east of Kabul and plans were laid to fly Afghan medical teams and investigators to the scene to begin the gruesome task of collecting body parts.

But an Afghan army spokesman said troops who tried to camp near the site had been forced to descend by the freezing temperatures, while heavy cloud cover was keeping helicopters on the ground.

"They'll try to go back up on foot today, but the best chance is from the air," spokesman Maj. Mohammed Arif Anes said. "We need God's help."

The Boeing 737-200, flown by Kam Air, Afghanistan's first post-Taliban private airline, vanished last Thursday after it approached Kabul airport in a snowstorm from the western city of Herat.

Officials expect all 96 passengers and eight crew — most of them Afghans, but also including more than 20 foreigners — perished in what would be Afghanistan's worst aviation disaster.

NATO helicopters spotted parts of the wreckage some 11,000 feet up Chaperi Mountain on Saturday, but freezing fog, cloud and up to eight feet of snow have hampered the recovery operation.

Five Slovenian mountain troops who inspected the crash site for two hours on Monday saw parts of the tail, the engines and scattered seats but the cabin has yet to be found, alliance spokeswoman Maj. Karen Tissot Van Patot said.

Officials say it could take weeks to collect all the bodies, fueling the frustration of relatives worried about scavenging animals and fast-spreading rumors that looters may have already reached the crash site.

"A hand might be here and a foot somewhere else, so it will very difficult," said Gen. Mohammed Zahir Azimi, a Defense Ministry spokesman. "As well as the cold and the snow, there could be mines up there."

The Afghan government is calling in U.S. experts to help investigate, and presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said Tuesday that Boeing would also be asked to help an independent inquiry into the crash.

Ludin said the aircraft's flight recorder had yet to be found.

He also said that "everything that's in our control will be done to compensate for the loss of those who perished." He didn't elaborate.

Nine Turks, six Americans and three Italians were believed to have been on the plane, though a final list has yet to be released. The airline says the crew was made of up of six Russians and two Afghans, although Moscow said only four Russian citizens were missing.

Rescuers find remains at Afghan crash site
By Bashir Sediqy Monday February 7, 6:51 PM
ABOVE SHAPIRI GHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - NATO troops have found human remains on a frozen mountain top near Kabul where an Afghan airliner crashed last week and there is no sign any of the 104 people on board survived, a spokesman says.

The Boeing 737 operated by private Afghan airline Kam Air crashed on the snow-covered 3,300 metre (11,000 feet) Shapiri Ghar mountain, about 30 km (19 miles) southeast of Kabul on Thursday.

Afghanistan's NATO-led peacekeeping force said a Slovenian mountain rescue team was dropped by helicopter at the crash site on Monday morning.

"We had a team there; they found some human remains," said Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick Poulain, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. Asked if the team found any sign of life, he said: "In the area the team was in, no."

Poulain said that despite the freezing conditions on the mountain, ISAF would not rule out the possibility of survivors until the whole area had been thoroughly searched.

He said the fuselage and wings had yet to be found and it was possible the rest of the aircraft was on the other side of the mountain.

Most of the passengers were Afghans, but also on board were nine Turks, four Americans, an Italian navy officer, two other Italians, an Iranian and the eight crew, four of them Russians.

If their deaths are confirmed, it would be the worst crash in Afghan aviation history.

The Slovenian troops were the first to reach the crash site as poor weather, including freezing fog and deep snow, has hampered search efforts. The Afghan Defence Ministry said Afghan troops had now reached the site to continue the search.

First television pictures of the crash site, taken by Reuters Television from an Afghan military helicopter, showed the white tail fin of the aircraft sticking upright out of the snow with other pieces of wreckage scattered around.

The plane had been flying to Kabul on Thursday from the western city of Herat, a busy route for Afghan businessmen and foreign aid workers returning to the capital for the weekend. It disappeared off radar screens while approaching Kabul airport.

Officials of the airline said at the time of the crash that the aircraft was turned away from Kabul International Airport due to heavy snow.

But U.S. Marines pilot Major Clay Baradi told the news briefing the aircraft would have been cleared to approach Kabul by U.S. military air traffic controllers but would not have reached the point where it was in contact with the Kabul control tower.

Asked if there were indications of pilot error, he said that until it crashed, the aircraft was on a normal approach with normal communications with air traffic controllers.

"Up until the point that the aircraft was off of ground track or too low -- because it impacted this terrain -- there was nothing out of the ordinary," he said.

The airport is on a high plain surrounded by mountains, forcing pilots to do a sharp turn immediately before landing even in good conditions. It also lacks sophisticated electronic equipment to guide pilots trying to land in bad weather.

Kam Air opened as Afghanistan's only private airline in November 2003. It flies leased aircraft between Kabul, Dubai and Istanbul and several domestic routes.

Top Pakistani militant surrenders
ISLAMABAD, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) -- A top pro-Taliban Pakistani militant Baitullah Mehsud, who was wanted for sheltering al-Qaeda suspects in the country's tribal region, surrendered to the authorities Monday, according to the News Network International.

Baitullah Mehsood, considered to be the overall commander of militants in his tribal region, surrendered along with some of his150 comrades in the South Waziristan tribal agency bordering Afghanistan.

Political officials said Baitullah Mehsud and his followers will put down their arms and will not harbor foreign and local militants instead of lending helping hand to the security forces to net the al-Qaeda suspects.

Another beleaguered commander Abdullah Mehsud, 29, is wanted for masterminding the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers in October last year. One of the Chinese was later killed during a rescue operation carried out by the elite Special Services Group commandos.

There are about 35,000 regular and paramilitary troops in South Waziristan, roughly half of the total 70,000 troops in the tribal belt along the Pak-Afghan border. They are hunting Taliban remnants and members of al-Qaeda who have fled US-led campaign in Afghanistan since late 2001.

The authorities have announced amnesty for Baitullah and his companions, who will not shelter foreign militants, stop activities against the army and will not oppose development projects in the tribal area.

Families barred at Afghan crash site
By Amir Shah The Associated Press February 8 2005
CHENARI, Afghanistan · Security forces Monday turned back relatives trying to get to a freezing mountain where NATO soldiers found human remains but no survivors in the wreckage of an Afghan airliner four days after it struck a snowbound peak with 104 people on board.

NATO helicopters found parts of the wreckage about 11,000 feet up Chaperi Mountain on Saturday, but freezing fog, low clouds and up to 8 feet of snow prevented teams from reaching the site.

Clear weather on Monday allowed a helicopter to drop five Slovenian mountain troops onto the mountain top 20 miles east of Kabul, where they toiled through the deep snow to inspect several pieces of fuselage.

"They did find human remains," NATO spokeswoman Maj. Karen Tissot Van Patot said. It was impossible to say how many bodies the remains belonged to, she said. The troops were lifted out as visibility deteriorated.

A team of 100 Afghan soldiers who got within 150 yards of the crash site planned to spend Monday night there ahead of medical teams that hope to reach it today to collect bodies, Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Mohammed Zaher Azimi said.

"As well as the cold and the snow, there could be mines up there. It will take weeks to complete our job," Azimi said.

Down below, Afghan soldiers and police staffed checkpoints to stop family members and media from approaching the area -- to the fury of dozens of men eager to observe Muslim custom by quickly burying their dead.

The Boeing 737-200, flown by Kam Air, Afghanistan's first post-Taliban private airline, vanished Thursday as it approached Kabul airport in a snowstorm from the western city of Herat. There were 96 passengers and eight crew aboard.

American experts are to help Afghan authorities investigate the crash, along with representatives of the other foreign victims.

Nine Turks, six Americans and three Italians were thought to have taken the flight. Airline officials say the crew was made up of six Russians and two Afghans, although Moscow said only four Russian citizens were missing.

Disease Kills 21 in Northeastern Afghanistan
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan (Reuters) - At least 21 people, most of them children, have died from a contagious respiratory illness in northeastern Afghanistan over the past two days, an official said Tuesday.

It was not immediately known what the illness was.

The victims in the remote Koof district of Badakhshan province died as a result of respiratory conditions, said Ghafour Dawar, head of public health in Faizabad, the provincial capital.

"We are concerned about it. It seems the disease is a contagious one," he said, without elaborating.

Dawar said heavy snowfall in Koof meant that doctors could only reach the area through neighboring Tajikistan.

The deaths brought the number of people who have died of illnesses caused by harsh winter weather in Afghanistan in the past month to nearly 100.

National Military Academy Afghanistan Welcomes First Cadets
COMBINED FORCES COMMAND – AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER - KABUL, AFGHANISTAN - Feb. 6, 2005 - Story by U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Susan H. Meisner Office of Military Cooperation-Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — On a snowy day in February, Afghanistan’s first class of cadets took their place in history and reported for duty at the new National Military Academy Afghanistan.

The Academy is located on the grounds of a former flight technology school in Kabul. Modeled after West Point, the Academy is a four-year, degree-granting institution that will commission 2nd lieutenants for the Afghan National Army.

Cadets will earn an engineering degree with an emphasis on civil, mechanical, systems or electrical engineering. They will incur a 25-year service commitment upon graduation.

Assistant Minister for Personnel and Education Homayun Fawzi welcomed the first class, telling them to “be proud of their enlistment in this Academy.” Planning for the academy began more than a year ago, when then-Office of Military Cooperation - Afghanistan Chief Army Maj. Gen. Karl W. Eikenberry and senior Afghan Ministry of Defense leaders decided to establish an academy that would be the “crown jewel” of Afghan education.

Military Academy Study Team Chief Col. Barney Forsythe, OMC-A, and Maj. Gen. Mohammad Juma Nassar, MOD General Staff Working Group Director, submitted their initial plan for the Academy to the MOD and Chief, OMC-A in November 2003.

West Point deans and department heads then began the planning process, deploying to Afghanistan for several months at a time to write policy, develop admission standards and determine the curriculum. They completed all steps hand in hand with their MOD counterparts, to ensure programs were adapted to meet Afghan standards and culture.

Said Academy Superintendent Maj. Gen. Mohammed Sharif, “Our environments (U.S. and Afghan) are different. Planners considered all cultural aspects and did not impose anything on us. While the academy will be similar to West Point,” said Sharif, “It will not be the same.”

The MOD identified 1,023 potential professors with the necessary advanced degrees. OMC-A Academy Team Chief Col. James Wilhite and West Point faculty and OMC-A members Col. Ray Winkle, Col. Gary Krahn and Dr. Larry Butler winnowed the list, selecting 200 candidates with special criteria for teaching everything from world history to physics to chemistry to psychology.

The team eventually hired 30 professors to form the academic faculty. By the end of November 2004, 353 cadet candidates had completed the competitive entrance exam. The MOD, in conjunction with OMC-A staff, then conducted personal interviews and selected the top 120 young men to join the first class.

Future classes will have between 250 to 300 students each, and upperclassmen will take on leadership rules in guiding the underclassmen. Said Sharif of the Academy, “It represents all the ethnicities of this country.”

The curriculum focuses on engineering because, “Our country is war struck and devastated,” said Sharif. “We are in the process of rehabilitating it. We need more engineers because we need reconstruction.”

Cadets, who are between the ages of 18 and 23, will earn $80 a month as well as receive free books, supplies, housing and food, in addition to their education.
After seven weeks of basic combat training, graduates will begin their academic studies. In addition to their engineering curriculum, they will study military leadership, ethics and psychology, among other topics.

“Our objective is to make a very strong and reliable army for Afghanistan,” said 1st Lt. Abdul Haq, 2nd Platoon Leader and a military instructor at the Academy. “It should be accepted by all people. I was waiting to see the wars ended and see people take part in educational programs. “I am thankful for your (U.S.) part in helping,” said Haq.

Sixteen officers and noncommissioned officers are staffing cadet basic training. Eight of them will remain on site during the academic year. Platoon sergeant Sgt. 1st. Class Asadullah Nawabi echoed Haq’s sentiments, saying “I would like to thank the U.S. military in helping us get things done.” He was looking forward to teaching the cadets.

Some cadets had spent a lifetime planning for this day. Said Abdul Saboor from Baghlan Province, “Ever since I was a child I wanted to join the army. I left Kabul University and changed my major to come here.”

Top scorer on the entrance exam was Jamshiud Dehzad of Laghman Province. Top graduate of Shaheed Mohammed Arif High School in Jalalabad, Dehzad said he was not only happy to be there, but “proud.”

“We came to do our best to make our country successful,” said cadet Abudul Ghafar from Mazar-e-Sharif of his attendance at the school. “It is my country,” said Platoon Sergeant Sgt. 1st. Class Ghazi Ahmad of Paktia Province as if puzzled by the question about why he would serve at the Academy.

If he did not serve his country, then who would? U.S. Army Corps of Engineer personnel prowled the campus on opening day, completing punch lists of work to be done and fine-tuning adjustments to the heat and lighting. “We want to make sure our contractors understand the needs,” said Mike Rosales.

As old as the army are complaints about the food. What did the new cadets think of theirs? “The food is great right now,” said Abdul Qodos of Paktia Province, “But I don’t know about the future.” The future is bright for Afghanistan, and for these young men who have stood up to be counted and to take their place in history.

New case study explores transnational networks and migration from Herat to Iran
Source: Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) 07 Feb 2005
Since the fall of the Taliban, much attention has been paid to the repatriation of the nearly three million Afghans who sought refuge abroad and in neighbouring countries during the many years of strife. But little attention has focused on the fact that returning home may not end insecurity or vulnerability, nor halt further migration. Current research by the Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit (AREU) is concerned with examining the ongoing cross-border movement of Afghans to Pakistan and Iran, and the transnational networks that sustain migration as a livelihoods strategy.

In the first case study from this project, Transnational Networks and Migration from Herat to Iran, author Elca Stigter examines the migration choices made by Afghans in both urban and rural areas of Herat Province. Stigter found that many people -- mostly men -- continue to travel back and forth to Iran largely in pursuit of employment, but also to have the opportunity to accumulate wealth/savings. This migration continues despite the risks involved in crossing the border and the alleged crackdown on undocumented Afghans by Iranian authorities.

Because official passport and visa documents are often impossible to obtain, the majority of migrants enter Iran through illegal routes. This includes relying on smugglers (or friends/relatives) to assist with crossing the border. The prices for smugglers' services vary, but this study suggests that the majority of migrants leave the country with the total or most of the amount required for travel. Once in Iran, migrants rely on networks of friends and relatives to assist them in the first few days with accommodation, finding work, and getting settled. The study also found that deportation did not deter people from trying to enter Iran again.

The paper provides some recommendations to government and assistance officials working on issues of migration, including the need to:

Develop a national policy on migration within the National Development Framework and Budget;
Open bilateral negotiations with neighbouring states to better manage population movements;
Improve the procedures for Afghans to apply for and receive passports and visas; and
Commission studies into border management and Afghan populations residing abroad.

Press Release The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
February 07, 2005
Abu Dhabi – H.E. Abdul Farid Zikria, Ambassador of Islamic State of Afghanistan, met today with His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and presented his credentials as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Afghanistan to United Arab Emirates. Ambassador Zikria is the fist full-fledged Ambassador of Afghanistan to the United Arab Emirates.

The ceremony, which was held at the presidential palace, was also attended by H.H. Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, H.H. Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, H.E. Rashid Abdullah Al Nuaimy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as other prominent Shaikhs and officials of the government.

Ambassador Zikria conveyed messages of goodwill and solidarity from H.M. Mohammad Zahir Shah, Father of the Afghan Nation, H.E. Hamid Karzai, President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and H.E. Dr. A. Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs to the president and officials of the UAE government. Ambassador Zikria further noted that Afghanistan considers UAE a brotherly country and hoped to further straighten the already close relationship between the two countries. "…we all were very saddened by the demise of H.H. Marhoom Shaikh Zayed. The government and people of Afghanistan will always remember His Highness as a visionary leader who served his people very well and who helped the Afghan people during its Jihad against Communism and the invaders" stated Ambassador Zikria.

H.H. Shaikh Khalifa wished the envoy success in his mission and noted that UAE always considered Afghanistan a close and brotherly country and hoped that peace, security and prosperity comes to Afghanistan as soon as possible and that UAE will withstand with his Afghan brothers during these crucial period.

The first indirect diplomatic relations between Afghanistan and United Arab Emirates were established in April 1973. However, the first diplomatic mission was opened in early 1994. The UAE severed diplomatic ties with Afghanistan in September 2001 during the Taliban regime. Diplomatic relations were re-established in February 2002 when President Hamid Karzai officially reopened the Afghan Embassy during his first official visit after taking charge of his office as the head of the interim government in Kabul.

The Embassy of Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Pakistan rejects scientist claim
Monday, 7 February, 2005 BBC News
Pakistan has dismissed a magazine article that said the US was probing whether disgraced scientist AQ Khan sold nuclear secrets to Arab nations.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Time magazine's claims were "distorted" and "baseless".

The magazine quoted Pakistani defence sources as saying the US was probing sales to Saudi Arabia and others.

Pakistan pardoned Dr Khan after he admitted illegally transferring nuclear secrets to Iran, Libya and North Korea.

But the scientist, still regarded as a hero by many in Pakistan as the father of the nation's nuclear programme, has been under virtual house arrest since his pardon early last year.

The Time magazine report also said Dr Khan's role in helping Iran and North Korea was greater than originally thought.

The article said: "US intelligence officials believe Khan sold North Korea much of the material needed to build a bomb, including high-speed centrifuges used to enrich uranium and the equipment required to manufacture more of them."

'Biggest proliferator'

Mr Ahmed said Time had made "distortions in its story".

"There is nothing in [the case of] Saudi Arabia that may be attributed to Pakistan," he said.

However, he did not rule out that Dr Khan's network may have been more extensive than believed.

"We don't know of any other country that he gave nuclear technology to. But if there is another country, we will investigate. If there are any questions [for Khan] we will ask them."

Mr Ahmed also rejected a claim in Time that cylinders used for uranium enrichment had gone missing from the Khan Research Laboratories facility.

"All those items are listed and all are there," he said.

The US has given questions to Pakistan to ask Dr Khan but has not been allowed to interrogate him.

Mr Ahmed again insisted the scientist "will not be handed over to anyone".

The US has called Dr Khan the "biggest proliferator" of nuclear technology.

Dr Khan held the post of scientific adviser since retiring as head of the country's top nuclear facility in 2001 but was sacked after his confession.

Pakistan sees Iran meddling in area
By Anwar Iqbal / UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL / February 5, 2005
A diplomatic spat in Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan may lead to a bitter confrontation between two Islamic nations, Pakistan and Iran, and adversely affect U.S. efforts to fight the al Qaeda terror network in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons and Iran's nuclear ambitions makes the situation even more precarious. Last week, Baluchistan's chief minister, Jam Mohammed Yusuf, blamed Iran for fomenting trouble in his province. But on the same day officials in the federal capital, Islamabad, denied any Iranian involvement in Baluchistan.

"Outside forces ... maybe Iran, are involved," Mr. Yusuf told Pakistan's private ARY Television when asked about foreign involvement in Baluchistan. This was the first time a senior Pakistani official had directly blamed Iran for stirring trouble inside Pakistan. In the past, India usually has been blamed for such troubles.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last month also blamed "outside forces" for exploiting the situation in Baluchistan, after three days of fighting between security forces and rebels killed at least four soldiers.

"There are possibilities. Without proof, we cannot accuse anyone. But yes, we know funds and weapons come from outside and activity against Pakistan is encouraged," he told the private network Geo TV.

Without naming them, Gen. Musharraf said the same powers were opposed to the construction of the Gwadar port in Baluchistan, which is being built with Chinese help to turn it into a hub of trade connecting Pakistan to Afghanistan and other Central Asian nations.

Privately, Pakistani officials complain that Iran is opposed to the construction of the port because Iranians want their ports to be used for this potentially lucrative trade route.

Baluchistan is Pakistan's largest province, inhabited by Pashtun and Baluchi tribesmen who have strong ethnic and religious ties to people in Afghanistan. Many Taliban and al Qaeda suspects fled to Baluchistan when U.S. forces defeated the hard-line Taliban regime in Afghanistan in December 2001. Baluchistan also borders the Afghan province of Kandahar, where the Taliban movement was born and where religious groups still have a considerable influence.

"Instability in Baluchistan will definitely benefit the Taliban and al Qaeda movements," said Rashid Khalid, who teaches strategic studies at Quaid-i-Azam University in Islamabad. Mr. Khalid contends that if the Pakistani military loses its grip on Baluchistan, there will be no way to check religious militants who have strong pockets inside the province.

"It will weaken Islamabad's control, allowing Taliban and al Qaeda suspects to move freely across this large province. They can simply conduct raids in Afghanistan and flee to Baluchistan to hide among local tribes," he said.

Mr. Khalid said one way to stop this from happening would be direct U.S. intervention, but with its forces stretched thin in Afghanistan and Iraq, the United States may not want to undertake another major responsibility in the region.

Baluchistan also is strategically important because of its long coastline, which offers the closest warm-water ports to landlocked Central Asian states of the former Soviet Union, which are rich in natural resources.

In his ARY Television interview, Mr. Yusuf indicated that Baluchistan's strategic importance, particularly in the war against al Qaeda, interested "outside powers" in the province.

A senior military official in Islamabad, who did not want to be identified, said Iran, which increasingly is worried about being squeezed by U.S. forces based in Iraq and Afghanistan, "sees Baluchistan as a place where it can fight back [against] U.S. influence in the region and hope to create some problems for Washington."

But it is not just Iran's desire to resist U.S. influence in the region that appears to have encouraged its interest in Baluchistan. A rapid deterioration in relations with Pakistan also is a factor.

The apparent change in Tehran's attitude is particularly disturbing for Pakistan, which has a long history of troubles on its eastern border with India and had always viewed its western border with Iran as secure.

Despite Islamabad's contention that it still has "close friendly ties with the brother Islamic country," relations with Iran have deteriorated gradually since the mid-1990s. The first signs of cracks in Pakistan's friendship with Iran appeared in 1994, when Pakistan supported the religious Taliban movement in Afghanistan.

Ironically, Pakistan's decision to dump the Taliban after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks against the United States worsened relations with Iran because Islamabad joined the U.S.-led coalition against terrorism.

Iran sees this coalition as a threat to its national and regional interests. Though happy about the Taliban's removal, Iran blames Pakistan for bringing American troops to its door.

Pakistan had very good relations with the secular regime of the Shah of Iran, but the friendship began to decline soon after the clergy assumed power in Tehran.

The clergy established the Islamic republic and tried to export the Iranian revolution to other Muslim countries. This threatened Iran's Arab neighbors, run by autocratic rulers with close ties to the United States, dubbed "the great Satan" by Iran's revolutionary leader, the late Ayatollah Khomeini.

When Arab governments closed ranks, preventing Iran from exporting its revolution, Tehran turned its focus to non-Arab Muslim neighbors, such as Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Iran helped create Shi'ite resistance groups in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet occupation and retained its links to those groups even after the withdrawal of Soviet forces in 1989.

Iran's links to Afghan Shi'ites and Dari-speaking resistance groups further increased when the vehemently anti-Shi'ite Taliban movement appeared in Afghanistan and gradually assumed power.

Iran tried to court both majority Sunni and minority Shi'ite religious groups. This led Arab states such as Saudi Arabia to undertake a concerted effort to prevent Iran from spreading its influence among the Sunnis. The Saudis funded Sunni groups and religious schools, or madrassas, which later provided thousands of volunteers to the Taliban. Some of these groups also developed links to al Qaeda when Osama bin Laden moved to Afghanistan in 1995.

The Taliban initially shunned bin Laden. But soon they and al Qaeda closed ranks, sheltering terrorists of various ethnic and religious backgrounds. Prominent among them were Sunni extremists, particularly the Sipah-e-Sahaba organization, opposed to the Shi'ite influence in Pakistan.

As the Taliban and al Qaeda trained Sunni extremists in urban guerrilla warfare, initially with the encouragement and backing of some Arab and Pakistani governments, Iran arranged for similar training for its supporters, also in Afghanistan.

"This turned Pakistan into a battleground," said Naseerullah Babar, Pakistan's interior minister at the time. "Thousands of people, both Sunni and Shi'ites were killed." The Sipah-e-Sahaba was particularly vicious and is blamed by Pakistani intelligence for the targeted killing of hundreds of innocent Shi'ites. Among the victims were a senior Iranian diplomat and several cadets of the Iranian air force visiting Pakistan.

Iran also blames Pakistan for failing to prevent the Taliban from killing several Iranian diplomats who were captured in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-e-Sharif in August 1998. The diplomats were attached as advisers to the Northern Alliance fighting the Taliban.

The activities of the anti-Iranian and anti-Shi'ite groups in Pakistan further strained the country's relations with Iran, and the hope that Islamabad's decision to abandon the Taliban would help improve ties provide futile.

The collapse of the Taliban regime brought U.S. troops into Afghanistan, where, in contrast to their reception in Iraq, they face no serious opposition from the local population. This, Iran fears, will encourage a long-term American presence in the region.

Iran quietly blamed Pakistan for making it possible for the United States to send its troops to the region by first backing the Taliban and then by providing military bases to U.S. troops for operations into Afghanistan.

Tehran's fears worsened two weeks ago when the New Yorker magazine reported that Pakistan helped U.S. intelligence agents enter eastern Iran to identify secret nuclear sites, which could be targeted at a later stage.

Despite denials of the report by Islamabad and Washington, Iran has warned the United States not to attempt such an adventure, saying the consequences would be devastating for the entire region.

President Bush, however, said on Jan. 17 that he would not rule out military actions against Iran. One day later, then Secretary of State-designate Condoleezza Rice urged the world to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons and threatened to refer Tehran's nuclear case to the United Nations Security Council.

Vice President Dick Cheney followed suit, and after Mr. Bush's second inauguration in Washington on Jan. 20 said Iran ranked at the top on the list of world trouble spots.

The Iranian government reacted by ruling out the possibility of opening talks with the United States while Mr. Bush is president unless there was a major change in policy toward Tehran.

"We will use the same language if anyone chooses to use a language of force and threats against us. But if they opt to engage in dialogue, without any precondition, on an equal footing, we will consider that," said government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh.

Observers in the region interpreted the statements by the Americans and the Iranians as indicating that there will be no lessening of U.S.-Iranian tensions in the near future.

This, they added, could further hurt relations between Iran and Pakistan.