Eurasia Press & News
TEHRAN (FNA)- Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan are part of a “larger family”, given their historic ties and their cultural links, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad told a news conference at the United Nations Headquarters on Tuesday.
He warned in an answer to a question from a Pakistani correspondent that anyone who disturbed this equilibrium would “fall headlong to the ground”.
He said that foreign troops in Afghanistan and Iraq have always suffered disgrace and defeat. Without naming the United States, he said it is unaware of the history of the region.
He cited the examples of the British and the former Soviet Union, which had invaded Afghanistan and had to leave it in disgrace.
There is no guarantee, he added, that the NATO forces now in Afghanistan will fare any better.
“They do not understand our culture, nor our system, nor our traditions. Human relations cannot be established or conducted with military might,” he said.
In another cutting reference to the US in Afghanistan, Ahmadinejad viewed as “unsuccessful” the United States’ so-called campaign against terrorism and extremism in the eastern neighbor of the Islamic Republic.
The problem of terrorism needs a political and negotiated settlement, and not a military solution, he added.
To a question about the Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, he said, “I met the president of Pakistan today and we noted progress on this project, and we hope to sign an agreement in the near future.”
