How long will Iran misbehave with and kill the Afghan Refuges?

Iranian officials should be prosecuted in the international courts for repeatedly killing of the innocent Afghan refugees!

Iran as a neighboring country in the west of Afghanistan has always had a two side and zigzag foreign policy with Afghanistan as its neighbor Muslim or brother country.



Since establishment of the post - Taliban government in Afghanistan the role of Iran has become very weak and limited than the time of Mujahedeen (The Warlords of early 1990s) in Afghanistan and thus since then the Iranian Officials have been still trying to rehabilitate their role and influence in this country by any measures and possibilities.

This dream of Iranian regime to gain and expand their role once again in Afghanistan as they were one of the main political role players during the civil war of 1990s, can not easily come true, when most of the western countries of international community and on top of the list the United States are involved in the reconstruction process of Afghanistan that are all in contrast with Iran’s nuclear programs, foreign policies and its role in the region.

During the last six years although the Iranian government has tried at least to pretend that they are happy and convenient with the new west supported Afghan government by taking some parts in the reconstruction of Afghanistan and committing to continue its assistances to Afghanistan in long term whereas the biggest projects they have done for Afghanistan are, some kilometers road asphalt in the borders in between to two countries and the railway they have promised to make in the border cities of both countries.



In this situation, Iran’s biggest concerns are the strong presence of NATO member countries in Afghanistan and then the strength of a western supported country just at its gates; Afghanistan which was just a decade ago under control of Iran.
Therefore in reality Iran’s fear from the military and strong diplomatic presence of the western countries in Afghanistan and development of Afghanistan would not let it follow in action what it says in words.

Thinking internally, after experiencing of the civil war, most of the Afghans do not trust their two eastern and western neighboring countries anymore, thus the influences of these Iran could not be rehabilitated as the past during the post -Taliban time in the urban areas and major cities where great number of population live, although they have had their projects, such as cultural and social centers, medical assistances, religious centers etc.

In this case the only point the Iranian government could count on and invest on was the frontier city of Heart in the north west of Afghanistan that has a border with Iran, where they could invested on cultural, artistic, social and commercials centers to have at least one open way for them in this country.



As currently Iran is involved in hidden wars in countries like Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine about a decade ago, during the Afghan civil war, alongside with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the Iranian government has had a remarkable role and strong influences on the internal issues and decisions of Afghanistan. On that time, they could strengthen their influence by religious and ethnic relationships and by logistical supports of different fighter groups through different channels to increase the flames of civil war among them and keep an open way for their own interferences as a Muslim neighboring country.

Since the interest of Iran relies on the weakness of Afghanistan’s infrastructures as a western supported neighboring country and Afghanistan’s development relies on the long term strong presence of International Community in this country and with this country on the other hand Iran is moved to an international seclusion by the countries supporting Afghanistan, so there is a contradiction in between the relationships of Afghanistan and Iran, therefore the Iranian regime, in order to reach to their goals, for two purposes they would sabotage the development process of Afghanistan; to keep Afghanistan weak and to spoil the efforts of the western countries in Afghanistan as they interfere in Iraq to revenge USA and its allies.



Although the Made in Iran mines, controlled bombs and weapons are seen and discovered with the Taliban during their terrorist attacks against the government and the people of Afghanistan, the Iranian regimes uses another pressure tool on the government of Afghanistan and international community to challenge both of them at the same time and that is the one and half million Afghans Refugees living in Iran.



Since 2005 seeing the weakness of the Afghan government Iran uses the issue of deportation of the Afghan refuges from this country as one of the pressure tool on Karzai Administration which last year caused a lot of casualties once during the heat of summer and once during the coldness of the winter; many children and women were dead during the deportation.



This issue then became a big challenge for the Afghan government and caused the interpellation of two ministries of the Karzai cabinet last year.
From one side, the are not enough work opportunities for all the returnees on the other side the government is not able to give them shelters to live which turned into a big problem for the government as well as for the returnees as a result most people would die of hunger and homelessness.

In addition misbehave with the Afghan Refugees in Iran and to deport them in different conditions, so far the Iranian border guards have twice or trice shot and killed some Afghan refugees who were crossing the borders illegally.



Once in August of 2007 the Iranian border guards killed four Afghan teenager refugees, and then in April 2008 they killed fourteen other Afghan refugees on the border and recently once again they killed four other Afghan refuges by the name of smugglers.
Therefore we want to government of Afghanistan to investigate the Iranian border military officials for their savagely killing of these Afghan refugees and to ask their prosecution in an international court.



Iranian Border Guards Kill Four Afghan Civilians

ZARANJ - Iranian border guards have killed four Afghan civilians and wounded eight others when they were illegally crossing border into Iran for jobs in Nimroz province, an official said on Monday.
A security police source who did not want to be named told Pajhwok Afghan News the Iranian border guards killed four Afghan civilians and wounded eight other after facing a patrol of the Iranian guards in Khwabgah area of the neighboring province late on Sunday night.
He added all the killed and wounded people were rushed to the hospital in the Zabul city of Iran. A letter has been sent to the border guards and urged them to explain and pursue the case.
Provincial governor Ghulam Dastagir Azad criticizing the Iranian border guards said Iranian guards should not kill Afghan civilians while crossing into their country illegally for jobs but they should only stop them entering to their country.
However, border officials have not commented about the elimination of Afghan civilians yet. (Pajhwok)