Iran-Afghan Security Cooperation

November 17, 2011

At the regional meeting of Afghanistan's neighbors in Istanbul in November 2011, Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi reiterated his opposition to a strategic agreement between the US and Afghanistan, calling instead for increased security assistance from neighboring countries.  Iran's security interests in Afghanistan suggest a complicated web of considerations that could lead to some modest cooperation or convergence of goals between Iran and the United States.  

Iran has genuine strategic interests in assisting Afghanistan to become a functioning and responsible state, and is perhaps Afghanistan's second most important neighbor, after Pakistan. 

The 582-mile border is one key manifestation of how Afghanistan affects stability in Iran.   Since 1979, waves of refugees have fled to Iran, currently estimated at more than 3 million.[1]   In 2009, Iran intercepted 41 percent of global opiates, yet 145 metric tons of heroin still crossed the border for consumption and trafficking.[2]  The bulk of the drugs enter through the porous and unmanned southeast border with Nimroz Province, where Iranian and Afghan border police have reportedly engaged in several skirmishes in recent months.  Securing its border has also been costly. Iran has spent more than $1 billion in land barriers, 3,700 border agents have been killed, and 12,000 have been wounded since 1979. Domestically, intravenous drug abuse causes 70 percent of Iran's HIV cases, estimated to have doubled since 2001 according to UNAID estimates

Iran's restive eastern provinces also gain economic opportunities with stabilization. Though a small percentage of Iranian trade, exports to Afghanistan have reportedly grown by more than 40 percent in 2011 according to Iran's ambassador to Kabul, and are estimated to reach $2 billion by the end of the year.  In November 2011, Iran announced that it has spent more than $600 million on Afghan infrastructure. Arid and impoverished, Iran's eastern provinces also depend heavily on water from Afghanistan's seasonal rivers to sustain settlements and fragile ecosystems.  

Western Afghanistan, once part of Iran, provides it with strategic depth, but its ethnic, lingual, and religious ties connect Iran to broader Afghan demographics. Linguistically, nearly half of Afghans speak Dari (a dialect similar to Iranian Persian), creating cultural bonds amplified by Afghanistan's burgeoning media and education sectors. Iran reports that more than 300,000 Afghan students study in Iranian schools and 7,000 continue higher education in Iran.[3] Iran also shares ethnic ties with Tajiks (27 percent) and Aimaks (4 percent).  Religiously, Iran shares a connection with Shia minorities (20 percent) living in Afghanistan's central Hazara region and in larger cities.

The most substantive existing security cooperation between and Iran and Afghanistan exists through the UN sponsored Triangular Initiative, which coordinates counter-narcotic operations between Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. Since late 2009, the members have conducted 11 joint operations and established Border Liaison Offices to facilitate communication and the exchange of intelligence.[4] In July 2011, the Executive Director of the UNODC observed: "Iran has put in place one of the world's strongest counter-narcotics responses... These joint operations demonstrate the Triangular Initiative's success in building mutual trust and confidence among its partners."

Iran and Afghanistan are working to expand bilateral security cooperation in anticipation of the withdrawal of NATO forces by 2014.  In December 2010, while hosting Afghan President Karzai in Tehran, the Iranian Defense Minister told of Iran's willingness to help strengthen the Afghan army, describing Tehran-Kabul relations as "strategic".  In March 2011, the Iranian Interior Minister promised to "spare no expense" in providing facilities and training to help Afghanistan develop counternarcotics capabilities.

In June 2011, both countries hosted high level meetings, inked agreements, and announced plans to expand security cooperation. Marking an historic visit by an Iranian Defense Minister in Kabul on June 18, plans were announced to conduct joint operations against smuggling and to prepare security arrangements for the withdrawal of NATO forces. Only days later, Iran's Deputy Interior Minister and his Afghan counterpart met in Tehran to reveal plans to expand intelligence sharing, joint counter operations, police training, and annual security cooperation meetings.

Iran is also attempting to coordinate the efforts of other players in Afghanistan. On the sidelines of Tehran's terrorism conference in June 2011, the Iranian Press reported that the Presidents of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq met with President Ahmadinejad to discuss the security implications of the withdrawal of NATO forces.  Additionally, Ahmadinejad met with the Afghan and Pakistani presidents to announce plans for increased political, security, economic and cultural cooperation, including joint efforts against militants and narcotics trafficking; they agreed to hold a third trilateral meeting in November 2011.

At the Islamic Awakening conference in Tehran in September 2011, the Washington Post reports that Iran tried to encourage dialogue between the Afghan delegation and several known Taliban affiliates in attendance. However, there is also growing evidence that Iran is providing limited support to armed militias, including elements of the Taliban, to attack NATO forces or discourage construction of water management infrastructure.

Iran is participating in international meetings on Afghanistan. On November 2, 2011, Iranian Foreign Minister Salehi decided to attend the "Security and Cooperation in the Heart of Asia" conference in Istanbul.  Though US and Iranian officials did not engage one another, a US Department of State official described Iran's decision to attend and to sign the meeting's declared confidence-building measures as "evidence of a good step forward."  Iran is expected to attend the much larger international conference in Germany in December 2011.

Iranian cooperation is only one element of establishing stability in Afghanistan, but a prerequisite nonetheless.  Iran's tough rhetoric against the US role in Afghanistan, even its covert operations with armed Afghan elements, clearly works at cross purposes to US policy efforts. Nonetheless, a measured assessment of Iran's actions and interests reveals areas of shared strategic interests and space to work in tandem, if not together.

[1] http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/search?page=search&docid=4eaa8ad99&query=iran

[2] http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/WDR2011/World_Drug_Report_2011_ebook.pdf

[3] http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=9007273167

[4] http://www.unodc.org/islamicrepublicofiran/en/triangular-initiative.html

Photo Credit: ISAF photo by U.S. Air Force TSgt Laura K. Smith, Flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/isafmedia/3140725372/