... Vivekananda International Foundation; and Mohammad Hasan Sheikholeslami, President, Institute of Political and International Studies; addressed the participants with welcoming remarks.
Session 1 of the roundtable was devoted to the Russian, Indian and Iranian interests in Afghanistan and the possibilities of their interaction on issues of common interest in order to normalize the situation. The speakers included: Seyyed Rasoul Mousavi, MFA Director general of South Asia Department, Former Ambassador to Tajikistan and Finland; ...
... North Africa took place.
High-level experts from Russia, the U.S., France, Great Britain, Germany, Sweden, China, and India took part in the discussion. The discussion focused on the attempts of the leadership of Iraq to mediate in negotiations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as the potential impact of the change of power in Afghanistan on the balance of power in the region and the prospects for strengthening security in the Middle East.
Irina Zvyagelskaya, RIAC Member, Head of the Center for the Middle East Studies at RAS IMEMO, Professor of the Department of Oriental Studies ...
... of Russia and France on key issues related to Iranian issues. Within the framework of the workshop, there was a discussion of the role of Russia and France in the possible restoration of the JCPOA, future of the Iran nuclear deal, key directions of Iran's regional policy and the transformation of its foreign policy due to the situation in Afghanistan.
Leading Russian and French diplomats and experts attended the meeting. On the RIAC side, the meeting was attended by: Andrey Kortunov, Director General at the RIAC; Aydar Aganin, Deputy Director at the Foreign Policy Planning Department of ...
... in Afghanistan, recent competition with Turkey for influence in its Central Asian sphere of influence (particularly, in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict) means an enlarged security role for Turkey in its backyard may be received coolly by Moscow.
Iran
Iran, which shares a 900+ km land border with Afghanistan, also intends to play a greater role in Afghanistan following the departure of its NATO adversaries. Iran, a Shiite-majority nation, has a complicated relationship with the Sunni Taliban. The two have long had ideological differences that ...
... do it. The thing is, if we do not see any real steps made in the intra-Afghan process, then the Americans will find it increasingly difficult to put on a happy face. This is what makes the joint call of the special representatives of Russia, China, Iran and Pakistan for foreign troops in Afghanistan to “withdraw in an orderly and responsible manner to ensure a smooth transition” published on May 18, 2020, particularly relevant. Both the government of Afghanistan and U.S. officials have made it clear that they are ready to open the ...
... play a role here.
The idea to build a gas pipeline across South Asia is nothing new. There is already the off-and-on Peace pipeline from Iran to Pakistan and further to India (known as IP Gas), as well as the TAPI gas pipeline (involving Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India). It should be noted that Iran and Turkmenistan, the gas producers for both projects, have already conducted the requisite work, and the relevant pipelines have already been laid. The problem is buyers and transit countries stalling the process. In the IP Gas case, the lack of ...
... Iran on the other side Saudi-Arabia represses Shiite minority in the subcontinent. Furthermore, the history narrates that sectarian feud commenced in the late 70s and all through 80s by the said rival countries during the Soviet Union occupation in Afghanistan; Iran originated Hizb-e-wahdat Islamic-led by Abdul Ali Mazari and Harakat Islamic-led by Shaikh Asif Mohseni and Saudi-Arabia invented Salafi movement guided by Mallawi Jamilulrahmaan and Islamic Center led by Abdullah Ezam, both Iran and Saudi-Arabia ...
... political influence of Qom and Tehran.
It should be noted that the new level of mediation by Iran has become an important factor for the
increased involvement of Afghans
in the fight against the Islamic State in the territory of Syria and Iraq, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan. Today, the Islamic Republic of Iran enjoys great prestige and has at its disposal an arsenal of tools to project its influence in neighboring regions. In recent years, Tehran has acquired a reputation as an implacable and most persistent enemy of IS in the Islamic world. Paradoxically,...
... in mineral and energy resources. In 2013, President Karzai estimated Afghanistan’s mining and energy potential at $30 trillion; enough reasons to attract regional partners and generate support to jump-start the country’s ailing economy.
Afghanistan’s political surroundings have dramatically changed in the past decade; both India and Iran have emerged as regional super-powers with growing political traction, the United States of America no longer holds all the cards. It is likely Iran, India, Pakistan and to an extent China will step up upon NATO’s withdrawal and fill the void ...
In light of the recent developments in Syria and the apparently imminent US military intervention, the blog will take a short break from its relatively academic style and its thematic focus in order to brainstorm and share some thoughts on the broader picture of what is happening in the geopolitical arena of the region. Dangerous Double Standards Bashar al-Assad has reportedly used chemical weapons to attack, essentially, his own people. The first, logically obvious question is why would Assad essentially...
