The Torch: More great Afghan gaming

There are other tables in town:

India seeks Iran help for stabilizing Afghanistan

NEW DELHI: Days before foreign minister S M Krishna's visit to Iran for the G-15 meet, India has conveyed to Tehran that it had a major role in stabilizing the situation in Afghanistan and that India would cherish its support in handling the developing situation in that country.

Highly placed sources said this was conveyed by India's deputy NSA Alok Prasad to Iran's main security body, Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), in a meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.

Both sides remained tight-lipped about the dialogue over security-related issues. Sources, however, said Prasad told SNSC chief Saeed Jalili that India was looking forward to full-scale security cooperation between the two countries over Afghanistan and other regional security issues.

Sources said Prasad's dialogue with Jalili has helped chalk out the agenda for Krishna's visit to Tehran later this week as he is also expected to have a bilateral meeting with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki. How to keep the Taliban out from the government in Kabul was discussed at length by the officials. The crucial IPI [natural gas] pipeline issue also came up during the discussion and Prasad conveyed to the Iranians that India's participation was being prevented solely by its concerns over security and pricing issues [rather a more realistic project at this time than the TAPI gas pipeline through Afstan--which so many opposed to the Afghan war say the international military effort is really all about].

Sources said the security dialogue should be seen in the context of India's efforts to form a potent alliance — comprising "like-minded" countries like Russia and Iran — in dealing with the situation in Afghanistan once the reintegration, as well as reconciliation, process starts to set in. While Russian ambassador to India Aleaxander M Kadakin said this week that Moscow was "hundred per cent with India" over Afghanistan, New Delhi is expecting similar support from Iran. Like India, Iran maintains that there can't be a good Taliban even though, in a marked departure from India's stand, it favours immediate withdrawal of NATO troops.

Despite the traditionally close ties, the two countries have over the past few years drifted apart, a process initiated by India's vote in favour of IAEA's resolution censuring Iran for its nuclear programme. Krishna was slated to visit Iran in February but was forced to back out after Tehran continued to juggle with the dates for the visit. Talking to TOI later, Krishna admitted that India's IAEA vote was an issue between the two countries and that he was trying to "assuage" Tehran's concerns.