By Xinhua
Washington : US President George W. Bush has said he would continue efforts to isolate Iran because the government in Tehran is “not a force for good” in the world.
“Because of the actions of this (Iranian) government, this country is isolated, and we will continue to work to isolate it because they’re not a force for good as far as we can see, they’re a destabilising influence wherever they are,” Bush told reporters after talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai at Camp David Monday.
Bush made the remarks after US and Iranian experts held their first meeting in Baghdad’s Green Zone Monday on how to improve bilateral cooperation on Iraqi security in the war-torn country.
“It is an established channel of communication and we will see in the future as to whether or not it is a useful channel of communication,” US State Department spokesperson Sean McCormack told reporters here.
Bush’s remarks about Iran contradict what Karzai said before the two-day US-Afghanistan summit.
Karzai told CNN Saturday that he is investigating reports that Iran is fuelling violence in Afghanistan by sending in weaponry such as sophisticated roadside bombs.
But he insisted “Iran has been a supporter of Afghanistan, in the peace process that we have and the fight against terror and the fight against narcotics in Afghanistan”.
The Afghan top leader said Afghanistan and Iran had “very, very good, very, very close relations. … We will continue to have good relations with Iran”.