Iranian parliament approves Afghan aid

The Iranian parliament has approved $475 million as financial aid to Afghanistan following a factional dispute inside the parliament between pro-reform MPs and conservatives who strongly opposed the move.

Based on the bill that coincides with President Khatami's trip to Afghanistan this week, the Iranian government will allocate (Iranian Rials) IR385 billion ($475 million) to the Iranian contractors who will take part in the re-construction projects in Afghanistan.

Kamal Kharazi, Iran's Foreign Minister, announced in last year's Tokyo Conference that Iran would allocate some $560 million as financial aid to Afghanistan to accelerate the trend of construction after two decades of a full-scale war.

Based on the Iranian constitution, any financial aid to foreign countries must be ratified by the MPs. However, some parliamentarians believe that Kharazi didn't coordinate with the parliament when he pledged Iran's financial aid to Afghanistan in Tokyo.

Referring to some of the social dissatisfactions regarding the financial problems among teachers and blue-collar workers, conservative MPs cited that "charity begins at home."

Amrollah Mohammadi, a right-wing MP, protested the ratification of the bill asking: "Why is Iran the pioneer of financial aid and is more catholic than the Pope? How can we close our eyes to our own financial problems and allocate such an amount of money to Afghanistan whose refugees are furnished for more than two decades?"

More than 87,000 Iranian blue-collar workers haven't been paid for more than 10 months who have been blocking the main streets of the capital Tehran on and off to protest against their miserable situation.

On January 22, the teachers protesting bitterly against their low wages, gathered in front of the parliament and the presidential office several times that led to a clash with the security forces and triggered two days of unrest in the capital.

Hossein Anvari, a conservative MP said: "The allocation of such an amount of money to Afghanistan is not justifiable in public opinion."

Lashing out at the ratification of the bill in the parliament, Entekhab, a right-wing daily, in its editorial cited that while the U.S.A. is acting "against Iran inside the Afghan territory by setting up military base, how can we financially help Afghanistan?"

It concludes that this is helping the U.S.A. instead of the Afghan government. Pro-reform MPs, however believe that the ratification of financial help to Afghanistan will materialise their own national interest in their eastern neighbouring country.

Mohsen Armin, a prominent reformist in the parliament said: "Iran's eastern border will never be secure till a relative stabilisation is actualised in Afghanistan and Iran should play an important role in this regard."

Iraj Nadimi, a member of the economy commission of the parliament, told Gulf News that while the anti-drugs campaign in Iran costs more than $800 million, this amount given to Afghanistan will be like a bonus.

"It will be allocated for the projects carried out by the Iranian contractors to boost the economic situation in Iran and Afghanistan," he said.

Since the overthrowing of Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Iran has seriously tried to take part in the country's construction and capture its markets by exporting its goods to it.

During last four months, Iran's export to Afghanistan amounted to $21 million including basically food and construction materials like cement.