NEW YORK (PAN): Afghanistan is a more fertile ground for a US-Iran co-operation than Iraq, a leading Iranian-expert based in Washington has said.

"From the US perspective, a greater Iranian role could be an important factor in reducing Pakistani influence and reversing the growing role of the Taliban," said Karim Sadjapour from the prestigious Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in a policy paper relating to what should be the next president's policy on Iran.

Sadjappour said in Afghanistan, Washington has more overlapping interests with Tehran than it does with its allies Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Having accommodated over two million Afghan refugees, Tehran does not stand to gain from continued strife in Afghanistan. It has sought to play a leading role in the country's reconstruction, ranking among the top ten aid donors.

Further with one of the highest incidences of drug addiction in the world and a strict penal code prohibiting drug use, Iran has been highly vigilant in policing drug trafficking along the Afghan border.

While it has not abandoned its support for other allies in Afghanistan, Iran has been supportive of the Karzai government and made numerous pledges of security and economic cooperation.

Also Iran nearly fought a war against the inherently anti-Shi'i Taliban in 1998 and supported the opposition Northern Alliance long before September 11, 2001, the author of the report argued.

Similar to its approach in Iraq, in an effort to frustrate the United States, Tehran's behavior toward Afghanistan has been at times schizophrenic and counter to its own national interests.

At the same time when Iranian officials have publicly avowed support for the Karzai government, Iranian state radio programs broadcast to Afghanistan have simultaneously referred to him as the "stooge of the United States." Most troubling, however, are widespread allegations from both U.S. and European intelligence agencies that Iran has provided arms to the "enemy of its enemy," its old nemesis the Taliban, he said.

"In the context of an improved USIranian relationship, Afghanistan presents even more fertile ground for USIranian cooperation than Iraq," he argued.

According to the account of US officials who worked closely with their Iranian counterparts in Afghanistan, Iran played a crucial role in helping to assemble the post-Taliban government and military.

From the US perspective, a greater Iranian role could be an important factor in reducing Pakistani influence and reversing the growing role of the Taliban.

Lkj/ajr