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Iranian Government Urged to Contact Afghan Taliban Over Border Issues
An Iranian newspaper on Tuesday urged the government to make contacts with the ruling Taliban militia in Afghanistan to explore ways to solve border problems, especially rampant drug trafficking.
Such contacts at a lower level to tackle "the ever growing problems on our eastern borders" are justifiable despite that Iran does not recognize the Taliban government, the English-language Iran News daily said in an editorial.
Even if such negotiations do not resolve all differences, they will clarify the position of the two sides and identify the main problems facing the region, said the paper.
However, the contacts do not necessarily mean that Iran recognizes Taliban as the legitimate rulers in Afghanistan, the paper said.
The Taliban militia, which controls more than 90 percent of the country, is still engaged in conflicts with opposition forces supporting former President Burhanuddin Rabbani.
Iran shares a long land border with Afghanistan, which makes it the shortest, cheapest and quickest route to the Persian Gulf and European markets for Afghan drug traffickers.
Afghanistan has become the world's largest opium producer, and the continuous and devastating civil war has forced more and more people to take up the narcotics business or even become bandits, threatening the security of neighboring countries.
Iran recently decided to deploy a mobile battalion in its eastern boder areas to combat Afghan drug smugglers and bandits, who are often involved in kidnapping and ransom.
Some 800,000 volunteer forces have also been trained and armed to help restore security in the areas.
In addition, the parliament has earmarked some US$24.4 million to build security facilities along the border.
Despite all the efforts, the number of drug traffickers is on the rise and their push to smuggle narcotics through Iran has not abated so far.
Government statistics show that some 2,000 Iranian security personnel have so far been killed in conflicts with drug traffickers.
Tehran has repeatedly called for international help in its combat against the drug trade.
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