IRAN REITERATES ITS OPPOSITION TO PERMANENT US BASES IN AFGHANISTAN

    Tehran, 14 Rajab 1434/24 May 2013 (MINA) – Iran once again expressed its opposition towards the establishment of permanent US military bases in Afghanistan after NATO-led coalition security forces leave the country in 2014.

    The issue was raised by Iranian foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi during a visit by UN special envoy to Afghanistan Jan Kubis on Wednesday.

    Salehi during his meeting with Jan Kubis once again insisted that United States should not establish military baes in Afghanistan and emphasized that Afghan security forces should take full security lead across the country.

     In the meantime Kubis urged Iran to Afghanistan advance its political transition and hold elections while underlining Iranian’s key role in the region, Khaama Press quoted by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

     As NATO-led international security assistance force (ISAF) is preparing to withdraw all its combat troops from Afghanistan, Kabul and Washington are engaged in discussions to finalize a bilateral security agreement which will allow the presence of US troops in Afghanistan after 2014.

    Afghan president Hamid karzai earlier this month announced that U.S. can keep nine bases in Afghanistan after the scheduled 2014 NATO combat troop pullout, however, he insisted on economic and security guarantees first.

    The places in which the US wants to keep troops include the capital, Kabul, the sprawling Bagram airbase, which has been the heart of operations in the east, the restive southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand, and Shindand in the west, where Nato is training the Afghan airforce, Karzai said.

     The other bases are in the northern hub of Mazar-i-Sharif, the western city of Herat, near the Iranian border, and eastern Gardez and Jalalabad, which is a key gateway to Pakistan and a base for drones. (T/P09/E1).

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).