U.S. wants Iran's help on Afghanistan

[dgriffin]

Q+A: Why does U.S. want Iran's help on Afghanistan?



(Reuters) - The United States intends to invite Iran to an international conference on Afghanistan later this month, the first overture from the Obama administration toward Tehran.

While Iran's ruling Shi'ite clerics might not want the Sunni Taliban to succeed in Afghanistan, they might also be reluctant to see a stable democracy emerge across their eastern border.

But the United States and Iran share common interests in Afghanistan and if they first work on issues where they might be able to agree, they can then build up trust to move on to thornier problems such as the nuclear dispute.


Q&A at:

www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSTRE5251W120090306?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

[frankcor]

Thanks, Dave. I'm smarter about the situation than I was before reading Hemming's article.

[dgriffin]

I was not surprised Iran wants Afghanistan to stop exporting drugs to Iran, but I'd also wonder if Iran ... as part of the "Golden Crescent" ... would like to eliminate the competition.

Exports of opium based products from Afghanistan went back up , of course, when the Talliban were kicked out. I would think that would bother Iranian producers. But I'm not sure of Iran's current production or whether they are in league with the current regime or not. I should do some Googling.

[dgriffin]

Ah, that's it. Iran production is indeed way down, but Afghan's has tripled. Most of Afghanistan's production for Europe (92%) goes through Iran and has resulted in unprecedented addiction rates in Iran.

Poppy proliferation: Opium production and consumption in Afghanistan and Iran

www.iranian.com/Opinion/2007/February/Opium110/index.html