President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran was officially welcomed by President Jalal Talabani here on Sunday. The Iranian president arrived in Baghdad this morning heading a high-ranking political and economic delegation on a two-day official visit.

President Mahmud Ahmadinejad said in Baghdad on Sunday that the “Iranian and Iraqi nations will always stand by each other.” In a news conference with his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani, Ahmadinejad called his landmark visit to Iraq “a new page in the history of the relations between the two countries …

KABUL – Afghanistan’s parliament approved Saturday a new minister to lead the fight against an opium and heroin industry that is at historic highs and funding a growing Taliban insurgency.