Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee became the first Indian premier to visit Iran in seven years on Tuesday, with the Afghan crisis high on the agenda at the start of four days of high-level talks.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi hailed the visit as a "turning point," the state IRNA news agency reported, as the two key trade partners also seek to expand business ties and bring a long-stalled gas pipeline to fruition.
Vajpayee, for his part, said cooperation between the two nations was aimed at forging a "stable world alongside security and peace."
Kharazi said current relations with India were "extremely good" and stressed that initial talks had centered on the civil war raging in Afghanistan, where the Sunni Muslim Taliban militia seized power in 1996.
Kharazi insisted Pakistan, which denies giving military support to the Taliban, must play a role in bringing an end to the bloodshed and work toward resolving the crisis at the negotiating table.
"We will speak to our friends in Pakistan. There is a need to change policies towards Afghanistan, and they must encourage Afghan groups to sit down and negotiate," Kharazi said, cited by IRNA.
"Experience has proven the Afghan crisis has no military solution," he said, underlining Tehran's concern over "drugs and security issues which stem from the Afghan crisis."
President Khatami, said IRNA, expressed regret over terrorism, drug trafficking and intellectual backwardness in that country which have led to the destruction of cultural monuments of Afghanistan, and said the resolution of the crisis in that country needs international cooperation.
" Iran has cooperated with the United Nations, the Organization of Islamic Conference and other related organizations for resolving the Afghanistan crisis", said the president. "We are ready to do our best for the regional peace and stability and the removal of misunderstandings", added Khatami, cited by IRNA.
Both nations have been sharply critical of the Taliban, with India accusing the militia of backing terrorism in India's Muslim-majority state of Kashmir.
Pakistan is one of only three nations worldwide, along with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan.
Kharazi repeated Tehran's call for a coalition government in Kabul that would include opposition forces loyal to ousted President Burnahuddin Rabbani, who are now thought to control only 10 percent of the country.
Vajpayee is expected to sign a "Tehran Declaration" during the trip aimed at rebuilding bilateral ties later in the day.
He said the joint economic commission can be a useful base for upgrading the level of cooperation and called for giving more momentum to the economic relations between the two countries.
Vajpayee underlined the need of his country to Iran's gas and oil and pointed to the efforts made to transfer Iran's gas to India. He stressed that the bilateral cooperation should not be limited to gas and oil.
“Iran is an important natural bridge between Central Asia and Middle East and the agreements signed between the regional countries for transfer of goods will bear very useful results.”
He underlined the cooperation of Iran and India over the issues which pose threats to their security.
“Developing countries should have the most cooperation so that they will not witness new inequalities in the world.” He invited President Khatami to pay an official visit to India, said IRNA – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
