E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Short Round: foreign troops no help to region’s security
TEHRAN - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attacked the presence of foreign forces in the region at a summit with his Afghan and Pakistani counterparts on Sunday aimed at tackling terrorism and other security problems.

The three neighbours’ first such meeting, which ended with pledges of cooperation but without any specific measures being announced, took place as Pakistan and Afghanistan are battling to stem the spread of Taliban insurgencies in their countries.

“If we can save Pakistan and Afghanistan from these problems, from extremism ... then such trilateral meetings are meaningful,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai told the summit in comments broadcast by Iran’s English-language Press TV. “The problems come from amongst ourselves,” he said.
And Iran seems to be in the middle of so much of it ...
But Ahmadinejad, who often rails against the West, took aim at outside intervention in the region, “by others who are alien to the nations and culture of our nations”.

Clearly referring to tens of thousands of U.S. and mostly NATO troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, he said they were pursuing their own interests. “Although the presence of foreign forces in our region was under the pretext of establishing security ... it has not been much of a help to the establishment of permanent security and political and economic growth,” Ahmadinejad said.

“Regional people are able to tackle the ... security issues by themselves,” he said.
Posted by: Steve White 2009-05-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=270441