Iran leader begins Afghan visit

BBC

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in Afghanistan on the first leg of a regional tour.

Mr Ahmadinejad is meeting his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Kabul.

Tehran helped to establish an interim government in Kabul after the fall of the Taleban and since then has donated large amounts of aid to Afghanistan.

This is Mr Ahmadinejad's first visit to Afghanistan since he was elected. Both Tehran and Kabul say they will use the trip to broaden existing ties.

Issues of mutual interest include continuing reconstruction efforts in Afghanistan and Kabul's ongoing fight against Taleban insurgents, says the BBC's Pam O'Toole in Tehran.

The continuing presence of almost a million Afghan refugees in Iran and Tehran's current operation to expel other groups of Afghans who are living in Iran illegally are also important issues.

Kabul's main ally, the United States, recently alleged that Iranian-made weapons had been finding their way into the hands of the Taleban, but that has been strongly denied by Tehran.

And during his recent visit to the US, the Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, said Iran had been playing a positive role in his country.

From Afghanistan Mr Ahmadinejad will travel on to Turkmenistan, where he is expected to sign a number of co-operation agreements.

Iran is the largest consumer of Turkmen gas after Russia and the two countries have close economic ties.

Mr Ahmadinejad's final port of call will be a meeting of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation in Kyrgyzstan, where he is expected to bid for Iran's status to be raised from observer to full member.

While there he is due to hold talks with leaders of full members of the organisation, who include Russia and China.