The Afghanistan in the Shadow of Iranian Foreign Policy 2001-2006 "An Analytical Perspective"

Abstract

      Afghanistan has been of great importance in Iranian foreign policy for ages, but since 1979, Iran's goals in Afghanistan have changed as the country's internal landscape has changed. Iran has consistently sought to see a more or less stable and independent Afghanistan, with Herat being considered an Afghan region. A buffer, Tehran-friendly government in Kabul, a government that reflects the country's rich ethnic diversity. To achieve these and other goals, Iran has created "spheres of influence" inside Afghanistan. Especially after the Soviet occupation of 1979-1989, Iran has created an "ideological sphere of influence." By empowering Afghan Shiites, Tehran then sought to create a “political sphere of influence” by uniting the Dari/Persian-speaking minorities, which rose to power after the Soviet withdrawal from the country in 1989. Iranian policies also further fueled the brutal civil war of the 1990s. Over the past century, the truth is that Iran, which was surprisingly slow to recognize the threat posed by the Taliban, helped create a “field of resistance” to confront the “Kabul-Islamabad-Riyadh” axis by supporting the Northern Alliance since the liberation of Afghanistan. Iran has also created Also a “sphere of economic influence” through participation in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and after the American occupation of Afghanistan in 2001, Iran sought to pressure the Afghan government to distance itself from Washington, and to make Iran a center for the transit of goods and services between the Arabian Gulf, Afghanistan, Central Asia, India, and China. But despite Iran's responsibility for some internal events in Afghanistan, its foreign policy towards that country has contributed - somewhat - to moderation and stability within the country more than to extremism and instability.