“There will be no peace in Afghanistan without Iran.” This was a remark a top Iranian diplomat made last week in an expansive interview with the country’s media.
On December 15, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani delivered a speech at the 30th International Islamic Unity Conference in Tehran. He spoke about the need for Muslim unity to fight “colonialist countries” and the “Zionist regime [Israel]” on the same day Iranian-backed militia fighters massacred Muslim civilians in Aleppo. He also called for collection action to fight terrorism.
On November 30, hundreds of people gathered in the Iranian city of Qom to attend the funeral procession of several Afghan and Pakistani Shiites killed in Syria.
On November 22, a senior Iranian official admitted that more than 1,000 combatants dispatched by Iran to fight alongside President Bashar al-Assad’s forces have been killed in the Syrian war.
On November 15, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qasemi refuted allegations by Afghan media and government officials that Tehran harbored Taliban leaders on its soil. “The presence of Taliban elements in Iran is baseless and unfounded,” he said, adding that Iran and Afghanistan had friendly relations and cooperated to ensure security and stability in the two countries.
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In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Robert S. Ford, Charles Lister, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis events including the announced cessation of hostilities in Syria, the Syrian rebels’ resonse to the deal, and the Afghan president’s upcoming visit to India.
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In the days after the attacks of 9/11, Americans asked fundamental questions such as “Who did this?” and “Why do they hate us?” As a nation, we were eager for a fight, for revenge, but some had another question: “How long will this war go on?”
In this week’s Monday Briefing, MEI experts Zubair Iqbal, Alex Vatanka, and Marvin G. Weinbaum provide analysis on issues including India’s Middle East policy as its foreign minister is set to visit Iraq and Syria, the opening of relations between Iran and Turkey following the latter’s recent failed coup, and the latest signs of tension within Afghanistan’s shaky unity government.
Summary
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