By IRNA,
Islamabad : Pakistani political/defense analyst Lt Gen (Retd) Talat Masood on Thursday said that without taking Iran on board US would not be able to restore peace and stability in Afghanistan.
Talking to IRNA, Masood opined that US took a wise decision by realizing that the issues in Afghanistan cannot be solved without the presence of Iran.
The US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said in Brussels that Iran would be invited to attend a high-level conference on Afghanistan at the end of the month.
Masood opined that the US must engage Iran in solving the regional problems.
Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham has said that Iran would consider the US invitation of taking part in a meeting on Afghanistan and it was ready to offer any help to its eastern neighbor.
“If America and European countries and others need to use Iran, they should give us (the invitation). We will review it with the approach that we are ready to offer any help to Afghanistan,” Elham said.
Masood was of the view that Iran has always urged the need of dialogue instead of confrontation.
He said that the previous US policies of confrontation were not successful and had increased the tensions. “What is more important is to engage Iran”, he said.
To a question, Masood said that the new US administration has changed its policies towards Iran and the meeting could help in improving the Iran-US relations.
“It could help in increasing the level of confidence between the two countries as confrontation is no solution”, he said.
He was of the view that Iran can also play a very major role in Iraq as people of Iraq are very close to Iran. “Iran can play a major role in many ways”, he added.
He said that the positive fall out of the meeting could also be very helpful for Pakistan as it was very difficult for Pakistan to balance its relations with the two countries whom it has been enjoying close relations.
Masood is a retired Lieutenant General of the Pakistan Army and a political and defense analyst.
He writes on security and political issues in national newspapers and foreign magazines and is a prominent commentator on national and international television and radio networks.
He had signed a multi million-dollar contract with UDLP as Secretary Defense Production shortly before his retirement.