US policy of Afghanistan not in sync with neighbors’ considerations: expert

Tehran, IRNA – Iranian academic said that the US has been seeking mechanisms to turn normal issues into security ones for the last two decades in Afghanistan which wasn’t in sync with the deliberations of neighbors of the country.

In an interview with IRNA on Saturday, Jafar Haqpanah, a political science professor at Tehran University, referred to the Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries held last week in Tehran, saying that it could be the beginning for Iran to change its approach to regional developments.

Haqpanah also said that the meeting in Tehran could be a starting point for Iran and neighbors to reach a consensus on threats and interests.

If we look at Afghanistan crisis, especially in the last 20 years, the expert noted, there has always been an inconsistency in regional and international levels, as actors like the US have been seeking mechanisms to turn issues into security ones, which wasn’t consistent with considerations of neighboring countries, especially regional powers.

He opined that regional powers, according to international relations theories, could move shoulder to shoulder with international powers in some areas. But to establish stability in Afghanistan, regional and international powers should agree on an interaction framework, otherwise the crisis would persist in the country.

It seems that Afghanistan has lost its significance from international viewpoint and no one was ready to pay a price in this country, the political science professor said.

Therefore, he added, countries should begin from cooperation at minimum levels and add to it incrementally, so that they can reach a shared understanding and prevent chaos from spreading throughout the region.