Aziz in Teheran to defuse Afghan crisis

DUBAI, Sept 17 (PTI) — Pakistani Foreign Minister Sartaj Aziz today airdashed to Iran on an "unexpected" visit to hold talks on the Afghan crisis that has soured relations between Teheran and Islamabad as China and Japan asked Iran and the Taliban to exercise restraint.

Aziz arrived on a "unexpected and short" visit with a message from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had offered to act as a mediator to ease tension between Iran and the Islamic militia yesterday, to Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, Iranian state television reported.

"Mr Aziz is coming here with a message of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for....Khatami on the Afghan crisis", the daily Teheran Times quoted a Pakistani diplomat as saying.

The visit coincides with the rising tension between Iran and the Taliban over the killings of Iranian diplomats by the Islamic militia who are locked in a fierce fighting with the forces of the Opposition alliance in northern Afghanistan.

The forces of Opposition commander Ahmad Shah Masood have seized an important region in northern Afghanistan taking near-complete control of Badakhshan province by driving out the Islamic militia, Iran’s official news agency IRNA said.

The agency, quoting Afghan sources, said the Masood forces had completed their operations in northern Afghanistan.

As Iran sent tens of thousands of troops to its border with Afghanistan, China today urged Iran and the Taliban to step back from their escalating war of words to maintain stability in the troubled region.

"We call upon the relevant parties to exercise restraint and to settle their differences through dialogue so as to maintain peace and stability of the region," Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhu Bangzao told newsmen in Beijing.

Condemning the killing of Iranian diplomats, he said "China has all along been opposed to any form of terrorist activities and condemns the murder of the Iranian diplomats."

Japan also urged Iran today to refrain from "attacking" Afghanistan in retaliation to the killings of its diplomats.

Kishichiro Amae, Director-General of the Foreign Ministry’s west Asia and African Affairs Bureau, made the request in talks with Abdolhad Borujerdi, Charge d’ Affaires at the Iranian embassy in Tokyo.

Amae told Borujerdi that Japan is concerned about the military manoeuvres by Iran and said Japan seeks restraint from "military attacks" against Afghanistan, Kyodo quoting a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said in Tokyo.

WASHINGTON (AFP): US and Iranian representatives are preparing to meet in New York to discuss Afghanistan in the highest level meeting of officials from the two countries since the 1979 hostage crisis, diplomats have said.

The ministerial meeting, planned for Monday on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, would also include officials from Afghanistan’s other neighbours, they said.

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and her Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharazi are to attend the meeting which will also be attended by Lakhtar Brahimi, an Algerian the UN envoy to Afghanistan, they said.

A UN diplomat told AFP that Washington had requested the world body to organise the meeting under the "six plus two" format, which refers to Afghanistan’s six neighbours — Iran, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan — plus the USA and Russia.

The meeting was "likely but not certain," the diplomat said, adding that Washington also wanted UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to participate.

A US State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the meeting was being prepared but said it was "not 100 per cent sure."