Iran's Foreign policy in Afghanistan: The Current Situation and Future Prospects

The overthrow of Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 by the United States eliminated one of the most important threats Iran faced since the revolution of 1979. This article seeks to survey Iran's policy in post-Taliban Afghanistan in order to evaluate the feasibility of cooperation between Iran and...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inSouth Asian studies (Lahore, Pakistan) Vol. 27; no. 1; p. 63
Main Author Haji-Yousefi, Amir M
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Lahore Centre for South Asian Studies 30.06.2012
Centre for South Asian Studies, University of the Punjab
Subjects
Foreign policy
Geopolitics
National security
Surveys
Iran
Afghanistan
Pakistan
Kabul Afghanistan
United States > US
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Summary:The overthrow of Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001 by the United States eliminated one of the most important threats Iran faced since the revolution of 1979. This article seeks to survey Iran's policy in post-Taliban Afghanistan in order to evaluate the feasibility of cooperation between Iran and the Western countries, particularly the United States. Our main question is that: what does Iran want in Afghanistan and what are the prospects of Iran's cooperation with the Western countries there? To answer this question, we first survey briefly Iran's policy in Afghanistan from 1979 to 2001. Then Iran's policy since the removal of Taliban from power will be discussed in the second section. In the third section, we will speculate on the possibility of future cooperation between Iran and the Western countries. Our main argument is that since Iran mainly seeks a regional solution for the current chaos in Afghanistan including its own role in state/nation-building there, the prospect for cooperation with the Western countries is not very bright. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1026-678X
2309-4575