| Tehran Sets Conditions For Attending London Conference On Afghanistan |
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| Source: |
Bernama |
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TEHRAN-- Iran has set conditions for participating in a conference on Afghanistan in London on January 28, Iran's Mehr news agency (MNA) reported.
In an interview with Islamic Republic of Broadcasting on Wednesday night, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said if Iran's views are considered at the conference, Tehran will study the invitation to attend the conference with a positive view; otherwise there will be no reason to attend the conference.
After eight years of occupation, Britain's record in Afghanistan is indefensible, the foreign minister said.
"The British government has no convincing answer to the world for its actions in Afghanistan, and its policies have been totally wrong," he noted.
He said even "schoolchildren" know that the occupiers have not been successful in Afghanistan.
He stated that the occupiers have not been sincere in their approach to resolving the crisis.
Either these countries did not have the capability to resolve the crisis in the first place, or they have lost the ability to lead the world, he added.
Despite eight years of occupation, extremism and insecurity have increased, opium production has skyrocketed, and even parts of Pakistan are also being dragged into the conflict, Mottaki said.
Iran believes there is no military solution to the Afghanistan crisis and insists that a regional approach is the only way to resolve the crisis.
The presidents of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan held a trilateral summit in Tehran on May 24, 2009 to seek ways to resolve the conflict in Afghanistan.
Iran also plans to host a meeting of Afghanistan's neighbours in the near future.
Mottaki said Iran and Pakistan, as the two countries that shoulder the "greatest burden" in the Afghanistan conflict, can play the most important role in efforts to resolve the conflict.
He added that the two countries are working to implement the decisions made by the presidents of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan on May 24.
He said the presidents of Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan will meet in Islamabad and three ministerial level meetings will also be held in the three capitals in the next three months.
The three economy ministers will meet in Kabul, the interior ministers will meet in Islamabad, and the intelligence ministers will meet in Tehran, he stated.
"We have regional approaches in mind for resolving the crisis" since regional approaches helped resolve the crisis in Lebanon, he explained.
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