Official Rejects Iran's 'Interference' In Afghan Affairs

Fazal Hadi Muslimyar addresses senators after his election as Senate chairman in Kabul on March 11.

KABUL -- The chairman of Afghanistan's Senate, Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, has reacted angrily to a speech by Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad during a regional conference in Dushanbe earlier this week.

Muslimyar accused the Iranian president of "clear interference in Afghan affairs" by attempting to "represent" Afghanistan.

Ahmadinejad on March 26 said in Dushanbe that the "cause of all the ills in Afghanistan is the presence on Afghan soil of NATO forces and, above all, those of the United States."

Earlier this month, in a speech to the Afghan Senate, Muslimyar had also blamed foreign troops in Afghanistan "for all the problems" faced by Afghans.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai's spokesman, Aymal Faiz, told RFE/RL on March 28 that Afghanistan was "an independent country" and "does not want to be a battleground for a U.S.-Iran conflict."