by Jiang Xiaofeng
TEHRAN, Jan 9, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Iran is becoming increasingly enthusiastic over participating in the course of Afghanistan's reconstruction amid hopes that its religious, cultural and linguistic links with the war-ravaged neighbor would assure it of a decent share in the ongoing process.
Iran, which had been opposed to the bygone radical Taliban regime, has generously offered sanctuary to some 2.8 million Afghan refugees over past decades, a move won Iran worldwide recognition.
As the international community has been trying to draw up blueprints for rebuilding Afghanistan from debris, Iran has reached out to the Afghans at a time when they are in desperate need of external contributions.
While important meetings on Afghanistan's rehabilitation continue in the West, Iran has been mulling its own part to help the Afghans stand on their own feet by putting the reconstruction work on the right track.
Two consecutive conferences on outlining Afghanistan's future development, attended by high-ranking officials from Iran and Afghanistan, were held here over the past three days, reflecting Iran's commitment to help its wretched neighbor reconstruct from scratch as well as its misgivings about being left behind in the global move.
During Sunday's seminar, Iranian Minister of Economy and Finance Tahmasb Mazaheri voiced Iran's resolve to help Afghanistan by pledging to offer government guarantees and investment insurance for the reconstruction process.
Meanwhile, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister in charge of Asia-Pacific affairs Mohsen Aminzadeh said that Iran had stood by Afghanistan during hard times and is now expecting to be rewarded.
He said that Iran could help build roads, railways, dams, power plants, telecommunication networks and hospitals in Afghanistan.
On Monday and Tuesday, the Conference on Afghanistan Reconstruction -- the First Year: From Relief to Recovery, rallied by the United Nations Development Program, brought Afghan professionals, entrepreneurs, businessmen and academics together to discuss the requirements for recovery in Afghanistan.
Recommendations made by the participants would be forwarded to a donor conference to be held in late January in Tokyo, Japan.
Viewing itself a "reliable and natural partner" of Afghanistan in the course of the reconstruction, Iran has voiced willingness to share its reconstruction experience following the devastating 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war as well as economic sanctions imposed by the West since the 1990s.
While pledging its all-out effort to help the "brotherly" Muslim Afghan people based on peace and friendship, Iran has not forgotten to sound an alarm bell by calling for "extra-caution" against "the political rivalry on its soil by Western powers intending to hold the Afghan nation as economic hostages," the conservative Kayhan International daily said in Tuesday's viewpoint column.
Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi stressed on the sidelines of a reconstruction meeting in Tehran that "Iran would mobilize all its capabilities" for rebuilding Afghanistan.
He also asked the international community to approach this process "sincerely and honestly" by steering clear of considering the work an arena for political competitions.
Iran's enthusiasm and ambition did not receive cold shoulder from Kabul as visiting Afghan Trade Minister Seyed Mostafa Kazemi appreciated Tehran's aid over the past decades amid hopes that Iran would play a leading role in the reconstruction process.
Terming seminars in Tehran as "extremely important," Kazemi said that they are "the first regionally initiated, international level move aimed at serious studies over the sensitive issue of reconstructing Afghanistan."
Kazemi, who had lived in Iran for a while as an Afghan migrant, said that he would like to see Iranian technical experts, engineers and industrialists to invest in his country, and expressed confidence in Iran's technical know-how and facilities.
Iran has been one of the first countries to kick off the reconstruction work in Afghanistan when it helped the country's interim government build a bridge near Bagram Airport.
In addition, Iran started rebuilding roads, telecommunication lines in Afghanistan's western provinces.
Iran's initiatives and endeavors are not expected to go without any gains, which include social, economical and political dividends, as many problems it faces are intertwined with Afghanistan.
Tehran has been trying to prevent the Afghan market from becoming another central Asia, a region where Iran regrets its limited presence due to "a foreign power interference," the state-run daily Iran News has said in an editorial.
By helping Afghan farmers replace poppy cultivation with valuable cash crops, Iran hopes to rid the region out of narcotics trade, thus offering a remedy to its own drug problem.
The returning of Afghan refugees is also expected to benefit Iran, where some 20 percent of its swelling 70 million population remained unemployed partly due to a large number of Afghan refugees residing in Iran.
Copyright 2002 XINHUA NEWS AGENCY
Copyright (c) 2002 Comtex News Network
Received by NewsEdge Insight: 01/09/2002 10:41:10