KABUL, Afghanistan
— President
Obama’s top envoy to Afghanistan declared Sunday that Iran
should play a vital role helping stabilize the war-torn country. It was the
latest statement by Obama officials signaling a clear shift away from the Bush
administration’s policy of avoiding direct engagement with Tehran.
The Obama administration
has been very critical of Iran’s suspected pursuit of a nuclear weapon and
support for terrorist groups. But the comments here on Sunday by the envoy, Richard
C. Holbrooke, appeared to suggest that the new administration might
also seek to use discussions with Iran about Afghanistan as one way to
establish a broader dialogue.
“It is absolutely clear
that Iran plays an important role in Afghanistan,” Mr. Holbrooke said during an
interview on Sunday with Tolo TV, a private Afghan television network. “They
have a legitimate role to play in this region, as do all of Afghanistan’s
neighbors.”
He also passed up an
opportunity to criticize Tehran about allegations — some made by NATO officials — that it has provided help to Taliban
guerrillas in Afghanistan.
“I heard those reports,”
Mr. Holbrooke said. “I talked to the military command about them. I did not
have enough time really to get into the details yet, but I will get into it on
future trips.”
Mr. Obama has said that
he will reach out to Iran for direct talks, and last week the Iranian
president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, said that Iran was ready. The two nations have not
spoken directly since the Islamic Revolution in Iran 30 years ago.
Afghanistan shares its
entire western border with Iran, and a major portion of the massive Afghan
opium crop is smuggled through Iran.
Mr. Holbrooke flew to
India on Sunday night after making his first visits to Pakistan and Afghanistan
as Mr. Obama’s special envoy to the two countries, part of the administration’s
review of American policy in the region from the ground up. As security in Iraq
has improved, Pakistan and Afghanistan have emerged as perhaps the most
difficult foreign policy challenges facing Mr. Obama, who is already weighing
whether to double the American troop deployment in Afghanistan to about 60,000.
While the situation in
Pakistan remains grim, Mr. Holbrooke also said he was shocked by the problems
he saw in the country, which he last visited a year ago.
He said he was
especially concerned that the Swat Valley, a onetime ski resort about 100 miles
from Islamabad, had been seized by Taliban guerrillas, who blow up schools,
assassinate police officers and beat — or behead — those who do not adhere to
their strict version of Islam.
On Sunday, the Taliban
announced a 10-day cease-fire with Pakistani forces in Swat for talks with the
government.
“We are very concerned
about Pakistan and stability,” Mr. Holbrooke said during the interview with
Tolo TV. “I was stunned by the change in Pakistan since I was last there, and
about the psychological effect that the fall of much of Swat had caused for the
people of Islamabad, Peshawar and even Lahore.”
Earlier on Sunday, Mr.
Holbrooke and the Afghan president, Hamid
Karzai, appeared at a hastily arranged photo opportunity in Kabul to
announce that Afghan officials would participate in a strategic review of
American policy in Afghanistan. They also emphasized their commitment to hold
Afghan elections in August and applauded an agreement between the American and
Afghan militaries aimed at decreasing the civilian toll from American and NATO
airstrikes and ground missions.
Mr. Karzai, once a
favorite of the American government, has said in recent days that Mr. Obama has
not spoken to him since the inauguration, a disclosure widely seen to reflect
the Afghan leader’s diminished stature in Washington. Last week Mr. Obama said
the Afghan government “seems very detached from what’s going on in the
surrounding community.”
In Kabul, Mr. Holbrooke
sought to play down the tension between Mr. Karzai and the Obama
administration. “Friends often disagree,” he said during the interview on
Sunday. “I don’t see the issue.”
Yet before he was named
the Obama administration’s envoy, even Mr. Holbrooke criticized the Karzai
government as weak.
“That was some other
person using my name,” he said jokingly. “Of course I don’t repudiate anything
I wrote as a private citizen. Those were my personal views at that time. I am
now representing the United States.”
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