Instability remains the main feature of Afghanistan's political life. The expected return of former king Mohammad Zahir Shah on April 17 or 18 could add an additional element of insecurity. The former king, who has lived in exile since 1973, has already postponed his return once because of security concerns.
EurasiaNet: A big topic these days is the eradication of poppies. Has the interim government been successful in the attempt to eradicate poppies? Abdullah: We have been very successful in Helmand [Province], and just we started in Jalalabad also.
Zarafshan is a prominent member of Iran's legal community who, for the past several years, has irked the country's hard-liners by representing the families of several nationalists and writers assassinated in a series of political murders three and a half years ago.
Hamid Karzai's trip to Bamiyan on April 11 aimed in part to demonstrate that the interim government can project its authority beyond the capital Kabul. The trip also contained a highly symbolic component, as Karzai announced that at least one of the giant statues of Buddha destroyed by the Taliban in 2000 would be rebuilt.
A recent meeting between Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi and Russian President Vladimir Putin reinforced growing Russian-Iranian economic cooperation. The meeting, coming just months after US President George W.
Interior Minister Yunus Qanooni, a veteran of the Northern Alliance, has spoken for Afghanistan's interim administration since the April 3 arrests of alleged coup plotters around Afghanistan. In this conversation with EurasiaNet contributor Camelia Enkhetabi-Fard, Qanooni explains why the arrests cast a wide net and considers the financial threats to his country's stability.
EurasiaNet: I'm curious about the case of the arrested people. Can you explain to us exactly what happened in Kabul the other day? Qanooni: The Security Directorate of the Interior ministry has been in charge of the case from the beginning up to now.
Iranian-Russian relations are approaching a reckoning point. In recent months, Moscow has striven to remain on good terms with both the United States and Iran, two countries whose own bilateral relations have been marked by growing hostility.
Tension is rising in US-Iranian relations that may have an overall impact on the anti-terrorism campaign. Some US officials are specifically worried about the destabilizing effect that Iran may have on the Afghan peace process.
