Marshal Fahim Khan made the remarks in a meeting with
Iranian Defense Minister Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi
and after a visit to an exhibition of the Iranian Defense
Ministry's capabilities here in Tehran on Saturday.
At the meeting, Marshal Fahim Khan appreciated Iran's
supports for the Afghan nation and government, and urged
further expansion of ties and cooperation between the
two countries, in defense fields in particular. He further
viewed the relations between Iran and Afghanistan as "friendly"
and "brotherly", and said, "We expect that
the two countries' relations grow increasingly in all
fields in the present period which is the age of Afghanistan's
reconstruction."
Vahidi, for his part, said that "Iran-Afghanistan
relations are strategic, given the two countries' abundant
commonalities". He said reinvigorating the Afghan
army would be much beneficial to Iran and is deemed as
a reinvigoration of the Iranian army. "We are prepared
to transfer our experiences and capabilities to Afghanistan
in military grounds," the Iranian defense minister
stressed.
He said Afghanistan's progress and development depends
on security and development of cooperation in the region,
and underscored the necessity for the expansion of cooperation
among the regional states, specially those countries which
share the same language and policies.
Iran is one of the most important donors to Afghanistan,
which has kept its promises to help to the reconstruction
of the war-ravaged country. Iran has built several roads,
power transmission lines, border stations and many other
infrastructure projects to better link the two nations.
Iran has also contributed more than $50 million annually
to Afghan anti-narcotics efforts during the last five
years.
Tehran has repeatedly called for a withdrawal of the
US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan, stressing that
establishment of peace and security in the war-ravaged
country is possible only through cooperation among the
regional states.
