Iran complains of foreign interference in region

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Friday said all problems in the region were the result of foreign interference.

The leaders of Iran and Afghanistan held talks for a territorial summit in Pakistan on Friday at a key juncture in peace efforts with the Taliban and amid rising tensions between Tehran and Israel, Islamabad and Washington.

Talks focused on strengthening regional stability, cooperation against counter-terrorism, drug trafficking and trade.

The Iranian president addressed a news conference alongside President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan and President Asif Ali Zardari.

He observed, “All problems are coming from outside. In order to promote their goals and ambitions they don’t want to allow our nations to develop without specifically naming any foreign power”.

Outspoken Ahmadinejad further stated, “We should stick together in order to advance and achieve our goals. All these powers are interfering in our affairs. We believe that the problems of the region must be solved regionally”.

He observed that they were here to strengthen the steps in order to solidify cooperation among the three nations. They were going to move towards removing the problems and they should deny others the opportunity to interfere in our affairs,” the leader added.

President Asif Ali Zardari while addressing the news conference after the meeting said Pakistan would not accept any pressure on the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project. He refused that Pakistan’s military played a double game in the 10-year war in Afghanistan, admitting that private Pakistanis may be involved.

He observed, “I deny this notion that any of our armed forces are directly or indirectly involved”. The president stated that they could not deny may be there were individuals among the population who were involved, terming it a world problem.

While referring to Pakistan’s involvement in the 1980s war in Afghanistan that gave rise to the Taliban and al Qaeda, “Yes I cannot deny that there is a residue in Pakistan of the war that was fought against the Soviet Union.”

He said Pakistan along with Afghanistan and Iran was committed to jointly work to rid the region of the threat of terrorism.

Afghan President Hamid Ali Karzai lauded dialogues between Pakistan and Iran. He said that drug money was being used in fanning extremism. Karzai also said that the dialogue held yesterday had been good and all three countries were working together.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=13025

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Feb 17 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.