HERAT: A 120-kilometre highway stretching from Herat to the Iranian border stands testament to Iran’s determination to forge links with Afghanistan as its neighbour plays host to thousands of troops from its arch-rival, the United States.

Iranian engineers have been paving the road from Herat to the border town of Islam Qala for the past eight months and will soon begin to tarmac the surface in a multi-million dollar project entirely funded by Tehran.

The United States for its part is about to initiate reconstruction projects in this pivotal western city and appears determined that the country that President George W. Bush recently branded as part of an “axis of evil” does not begin to exert undue influence in the region.

The beneficiary of this double dose of largesse, Herat governor Ismail Khan, has said he wants “good relations with both” countries.

“We do not want the problems between these two countries to create problems in Afghanistan,” Khan said.

“Both Iran and the Americans have helped us over many years including during the jihad (war against the Soviets)... Both of them are our friends.”

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said on a visit to Kabul earlier this month that Tehran would not interfere in Afghan internal affairs, but also warned he expected the same approach from the United States, which has some 7,000 troops in Afghanistan.

“We have no intention of interfering in the work of this country,” Khatami told reporters.

“No country should accept the interference of other countries in the affairs of Afghanistan.”

Tehran was a major military and financial backer of the Northern Alliance during the rule of the Taliban.

A senior Iranian diplomatic source in Kabul recently said that Tehran was also planning to help fund a rail link from the border to Herat.

He denied the project amounted to an attempt to exert its influence, saying it would merely aid trade between the two countries.

Khan said it was unfair to cast aspersions about Iran’s motives.

“This does not mean that Iran is paving the way to attack Afghanistan. Building roads can lead to increased trade. Everything they do should not be seen as an attempt to gain influence,” said Khan.

He spent a number of years in exile in Iran during the Taliban period and who was a prominent Northern Alliance leader.

“Pakistan are offering to do the same thing from (the southern border town of) Spin Boldak to Kandahar as they know it will be good for trade.

“If the road can create jobs and increase trade then there will be less temptation for smuggling and there will be better security, which is good for both sides.”

But Washington remains wary about Iran’s designs on Afghanistan. Khan was honoured with a visit from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in Herat earlier this year, his only stop-off in Afghanistan after meeting US troops and President Hamid Karzai.

US military spokesman Major Gary Tallman said projects funded by Washington worth half-a-million dollars would begin in Herat in a “matter of weeks”.

“It’s going to involve refurbishing schools, wells and agricultural projects,” Tallman said.

Washington and Tehran remain at odds over allegations that Al Qaeda terrorists have been allowed to cross the Afghan border and seek sanctuary in Iran.—AFP