[Menurut beberapa sumber, Iran sudah mengirim kira-kira 1,500 pejuang yang 'lengkap bersenjata ke Afghanistan. Mereka terdiri dari anggota elit "Al-Qods" dan beberapa pejuang Afghan milik Golboddin Hekmatyar. Perang ini mungkin akan menyatukan dua mazhab Islam - sesuatu yang amat menggerunkan Amerika. Malah mazhab lain juga mungkin akan ikut serta sehingga terpadam semua label yang ada.... - Editor]

Telegraph UK
4 November, 2001.

Perundingan Rahsia Iran - Taliban

(Iranian officials in secret Taliban talks)

Oleh: Julian West dan Christina Lamb

Iran dan Taliban telahpun mengusahakan satu rundingan rahsia dalam ura-ura menyekat kemunculan semula bekas raja Afghan, Zahir Shah yang telah menetap di luar negara.

Taliban telah membuat dua lawatan rasmi ke Taheran sejak tiga minggu lalu berbanding satu lawatan rahsia perwakilan Iran ke Kabul.

Iran dipercayai telah menawarkan bekalan senjata dan dana untuk kepulangan Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, seorang bekas ketua mujahidin, yang telah lama mendapat suaka politik di Iran dan bersedia mengangkat senjata untuk menyekat kepulangan bekas raja itu. Para pegawai Iran juga membincangkan masalah bekalan minyak kepada puak Taliban.

Mesyuarat dua pihak itu telah diperakukan oleh seorang menteri kanan kerajaan Taliban dan seorang diplomat Taliban minggu lalu, memberikan bayangan wujudnya peralihan dasar Iran daripada menyokong puak anti-Taliban yang juga dikenali sebagai Pakatan Utara.

Fahaman radikal Taliban yang berpaksikan ajaran Sunni memang diangap bercanggah dengan versi Shia fahaman Iran.

Pada satu ketika dulu, Taliban kerap menghukum golongan minoriti Shia di Afghanistan dan kedua negara itu pernah bertelagah begitu sengit sehinggakan mereka hampir berperang setelah lapan orang diplomat Iran dan seorang wartawannya didapati terbunuh dikerjakan oleh tentera Taliban di Mazar-e Shariff.

Keadaan sengit itu menjadi dingin apabila satu rombongan Taliban yang diketuai oleh Wahid Mazhada, ketua pentadbir di Kementerian Luar, di Kabul, pergi ke Iran tiga minggu lalu menyatakan kekesalan dan meminta maaf dan juga sokongan.

'Tehran memang tidak akan menerima puak Taliban tetapi ia telah banyak melabur di negara ini dan tidak mahu melihat penubuhan sebuah kerajaan yang pro-Amerika berjiran dengannya,' demikian pendapat seorang pemimpin agama Pakistan yang rapat dengan Hekmatyar.

Iran telah membalas lawatan itu dengan menghantar satu perwakilan ke Kabul bulan lalu. Satu lagi rombongan Taliban yang dipimpin oleh Mullah Zain Mohammed, timbalan Menteri Pertahanan Taliban sedang berada di bandar Mashad, Iran.

Pakistan dan Iran memang telah lama bersinggit untuk mempengaruhi Afghanistan dan setiap negara itu mempunyai kumpulan tersendiri ketika berlakunya peperangan menentang Soviet Union.

Puak Taliban tentu tidak berjaya menguasai Afghanistan tanpa bantuan Pakistan, namun keputusannya (Pakistan) menyokong Amerika selepas episod September 11, telah menjadikan segala opsyen itu terbuka menganga.

Terjemahan: SPAR

Asal:

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml? xml=%2Fnews%2F2001%2F11%2F04%2Fwiran04.xml

Iranian officials in secret Taliban talks

By Julian West in Islamabad and Christina Lamb,

Diplomatic Correspondent

(Filed: 04/11/2001)

IRAN has held secret negotiations with the Taliban in an attempt to secure its influence in the region and block the return of the exiled Afghan king Zahir Shah.

There have been two official visits from the Taliban to Teheran in the past three weeks and a secret visit by an Iranian delegation to Kabul. Iran is believed to have offered to arm and fund the return to Afghanistan of Gulbuddin Hekmatayar, a former Mujahideen leader, who has been living in exile in Iran and wants to take up arms against the former king. Officials also discussed providing fuel to the Taliban.

The meetings, which were confirmed by a Taliban government minister and a senior Taliban diplomat last week, mark a dramatic shift in Iran's policy of supporting the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance. The Taliban's radical brand of Sunni fundamentalism is at odds with Iran's Shia version of Islam.

The Taliban has constantly persecuted Shia minorities in Afghanistan and the two countries almost went to war three years ago after the murder of eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist by Taliban soldiers in Mazar-i-Sharif.

The recent thaw in relations came when a Taliban delegation led by Wahid Mazhada, head of the Central Asia desk at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Kabul, went to Teheran three weeks ago to offer an apology and seek support.

"Teheran will still never accept the Taliban but they have invested a lot in Afghanistan and don't want to end up with a hostile pro-American government on their borders," said a Pakistani religious leader close to Mr Hekmatyar.

The Iranians paid a return visit to Kabul last month. A second Taliban delegation, led by Mullah Zain Mohammed, the deputy Defence Minister, is currently in the eastern Iranian city of Mashad.

Pakistan and Iran have long struggled for influence over Afghanistan and each had their own groups during the war against the Soviet Union. The Taliban could not have taken over Afghanistan without Pakistan's help, but its decision after September 11 to support America has left the field open.

Iran fears the return of king Zahir Shah could stir up support for the overthrown Iranian Pahlavi dynasty. Officially, Iran still backs the Northern Alliance, however, hardliners have long pushed for greater co-operation with the Taliban to regain power and influence in Afghanistan