[Marxism] "With summit [with Pakistan and Afghan leader], Iran demonstrates regional clout"

[Fred Feldman]

Washington's response to this will be interesting to watch. The New York
Times, which considers the Afghan-Pakistan wars a "must-win" for Washington,
is clearly favorable. Basically, this is a diplomatic -- at least --
intervention against the Taliban. On the other hand, a link with Iran also
gives Karzai and, more importantly, Zardari some help in containing the
pressure they are under from Washington.

Will it contribute in anyway to ending the bloodshed imperialism is bringing
to these countries? I am not optimistic, and it could be quite the contrary.
But, of course, it introduces new complications for those seeking to prepare
massive bloodshed against Iran itself.
Fred Feldman

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/25/world/middleeast/25iran.html
May 25, 2009
With Summit, Iran Demonstrates Its Regional Clout 
By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
CAIRO - Iran hosted its first three-way summit meeting on Sunday with
Pakistan and Afghanistan to discuss cooperation on regional issues, the
latest sign of Iran's emergence as a regional power.

With Pakistan and Afghanistan fighting to hold back the rising tide of
radical, Islamic insurgencies led by the Taliban, the meeting in Tehran
seemed intended by Iran to assure its neighbors that working together the
three could solve their problems without having to rely on the West. 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran suggested that the United States was
the main problem when he described "others who are alien to the nations and
culture of our nations." It was a not-too-subtle swipe, but still one that
Washington's allies from Pakistan and Afghanistan did not rebut. That served
as another sign that Iran was increasingly seen as less of a threat to the
West, and the region, than the prospect of the Taliban's controlling
Pakistan or Afghanistan.

"If we can save Pakistan and Afghanistan from these problems, from
extremism," President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan said in comments broadcast
in Iran, "then such trilateral meetings are meaningful."

Mr. Ahmadinejad, Mr. Karzai and President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan
signed an agreement - called the Tehran Statement - in which they committed
to work together to fight Islamic extremism and stop drug smuggling across
their borders. Though the declaration did not outline specific action, it
served as a sort of bookend to changes in regional dynamics that began after
the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, with the United States-led invasion of
Afghanistan in late 2001 and of Iraq in March 2003. 

The summit meeting also served as proof that Western efforts to isolate Iran
over its nuclear energy program, through unilateral and United Nations
Security Council sanctions, have given way to more pragmatic regional
concerns.

Although the presidents of Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan had met before in
a larger gathering of regional leaders, the summit meeting on Sunday was the
first among just the three of them.

Iran's president, Mr. Ahmadinejad, said he was confident the meeting would
"guarantee security and expansion of cooperation in the region," in remarks
reported by Iran's official Islamic Republic News Agency. Iran was once
bitter enemies with the Taliban, which controlled Afghanistan before the
American-led invasion there. Iran was also once a regional rival of
Pakistan. Iran is a Shiite Muslim state. Pakistan is a Sunni Muslim state,
and often sided with other Sunni states, like Saudi Arabia, against Iran in
political and regional matters. 

Now, with the Taliban routed from power but waging an aggressive insurgency
in both Afghanistan and Pakistan, the presidents of those two countries have
turned to Iran, on their western borders, for help.

"There are many problems along our joint borders," Mr. Zardari said, in
comments reported by the Islamic Republic News Agency. "We cannot
underestimate the problems and we should look for solutions to all of them."

President Obama has also sought to re-engage diplomatically with Iran after
three decades of animosity between it and the United States. Iranian
officials have given mixed signals, sticking with their death-to-America
ideology at home while suggesting that after presidential elections in Iran
next month they may be willing to open talks.