Saturday, June 09, 2012
Kabul (BNA) On the sideline of the SCO summit, President Hamid Karzai met on Thursday in Beijing with his Iranian Counterpart, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to discuss issues of mutual interest.
Pointing to the Afghan-US strategic partnership agreement and other cooperative deals, President Karzai reassured Iranian leader that these partnerships would never be directed to Iran and added that Afghanistan would not allow anyone to use Afghan soil against any country.
The President said, “I hope the misunderstanding in this regard could be cleared very soon. Afghanistan has a series of problems and needs and in view of those, it has forged strategic partnerships with a number of countries in the world.”
President Ahmadinejad noted, “Iran understands the circumstances and conditions of Afghanistan and wishes progress and development for Afghans.”
The two sides then discussed ways to improve bilateral cooperation and to address problems of Afghan refugees in Iran.
President Ahmadinejad promised that they would cooperate in addressing problems of Afghan refugees in Iran and stipulated that Afghan refugees would only be provided with facilities of life in Iran, if the government of Afghanistan issue passports for them.