An Appeal to the Islamic Republic of Iran

Achievement of the Islamic Republic

Perhaps our greatest achievement in recent years has been the establishment and survival of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Other Islamic states that have emerged during this period – in Sudan, Egypt, Chechnya, parts of Somalia and Mali have all been subsumed to imperialist pressure. The Islamic Emirate in Afghanistan continues to be threatened by impending US drone attacks and imperialists are actively working to foment civil war in that country.

In this scenario, the Islamic Republic is a shining beacon of light for revolutionaries throughout the Islamic world. In its four decades of existence under the leadership of the Ulema, Iran has created a self-reliant, self-sustainable economy despite the imposition of severe imperialist sanctions. It has used democracy as an effective political tool for mobilizing popular support for the Islamic regime and for its initiatives for Islamizing Iranian society. It has developed a functional counter-espionage system to effectively frustrate imperialist sabotage initiatives.

The Islamic Republic is the only Muslim country which identifies openly and comprehensively with the struggle for liberating al-Quds. The Palestinian Islamic cause is close to the heart of the Iranian Ulema and the Iranian nation as is the struggle of the Islamic forces in Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen. Within the country, the leadership has consciously promoted Shia-Sunni unity and cooperation on and Iran has become a shining example of love and friendship between different Islamic schools of thought.

The Situation in Afghanistan

I appeal to the Iranian Ulema and the Iranian regime to look sympathetically at the sufferings of our Afghan brothers. The struggle for asserting the Islamic character of Afghanistan began at the same time that the Islamic revolution triumphed in Iran and the Afghan Islamic revolution is a continuation of the Islamic revolution in Iran. After four decades of fierce armed struggle an Islamic regime has been established in Afghanistan. Since then the Afghan Jihad continues and there are two major threats to the Islamic regime in Afghanistan.

On the one hand terrorists have intensified their attacks with the Shia Islamic Afghan community is especially targeted America has openly threatened to resume drone attacks from Central Asian bases. It is pretending that these attacks will be against terrorist installations but of course the real target will be the Afghan socio-economic infrastructure to promote systemic instability in the country. In Europe anti-Islamic Afghan groups are being organized and financed by imperialism preparing them to launch a full scale civil war in Afghanistan.

Secondly, an American plan to sabotage the Afghan economy is under implementation. America has looted and confiscated the $9.5 billion foreign exchange reserves of the Afghan central bank. Half of this money is being used to set up a fund in Geneva. The fund will print Afghan currency and try to infiltrate it into the Afghan economy in an effort to control the Afghan banking and financial system. The fund also seeks to monopolize energy import transactions into the Afghan economy. This is an attempt to subordinate the Afghan economy to the imperialist financial markets and isolate the Islamic regime from the Afghan people.

Need for Iranian Support

The imperialist attack on Afghanistan is indirectly an attack on the Islamic Republic of Iran. Imperialism seeks to surround the Islamic Republic with its client regimes. If an imperialist client regime is established in Afghanistan it will greatly facilitate imperialist intervention in Iran. It is in Iran’s national interest to prevent the establishment of an American client regime in Afghanistan. It is also in Iran’s national interest to assist the Afghan regime in defeating the terrorist attacks in that country.

I therefore appeal to the Iranian Ulema and government to seriously consider the following measures.
Early formal recognition of Afghanistan and establishment of diplomatic links. Iran should be the first country to recognize the Islamic Emirate and should serve as a link between Afghanistan and those countries – Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Cuba and Venezuela –which are victims of imperialist sanctions. Cooperation among these countries – Afghanistan, Belarus, Cuba,Iran, North Korea, Russia and Venezuela – is key to developing an effective international system to frustrate America’s sanctioning strategy and Iran is well placed to play a leading focal role in the development of such a system.

Economic cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan on a bilateral basis can be mutually beneficial and can be effective in defeating the imperialist endeavor to absorb the Afghan economy within the imperialist market networks and weakening the links of the Islamic regime to the masses. Efforts should be made to promote trade, investment and technology transfer ties between the two countries. Promoting investment and policy coordination ties between these two Islamic states should be relatively easy because of their geographic proximity and because they share a common language – Dari is a dialect of Persian and even Pashto is closely linked.

Those sectors in which economic cooperation between the Islamic Republic and Afghanistan is of vital importance are (a) energy and mining (b) finance and (c) information technology (ITC). Energy sector cooperation can be of some significance in alleviating the impact of sanctions on the Iranian oil sector. It can be of major importance to Afghanistan. An effort should be made to ensure that in the near future all energy sector imports of Afghanistan are procured from Iran, thus eliminating Afghanistan’s dependence on global petroleum product markets.

There is also considerable scope for cooperation in the mining sector. Afghanistan has rich mineral resources and Afghanistan’s needs for foreign investment in mining are extensive. Mineral sector growth is essential for the revival of the entire Afghan economy. Imperialist multinationals are already targeting Afghan minerals and imperialist investment in these sectors can be a principle means to subordinating the Afghan macro-economy to imperialism. It is therefore necessary that Iranian investment and sectoral policy support be urgently extended to the Islamic regime in Afghanistan.

The Afghan financial sector was totally subordinated to imperialism during the occupation period (2002-2021). Restructuring the Afghan financial sector is essential for the survival of the Islamic government. The imperialists have developed a two pronged strategy in this regard. On the one hand they are trying to establish institutional links, bypassing the Afghan government with domestic banks and financial institutions. On the other hand, through the newly established Geneva Fund they are trying to control the issuance and distribution of Afghan currency and to flood the economy with dollars. To counter these moves currency and financial sector integration between the Islamic Republic and Afghanistan is desirable. Currency swap arrangements may be urgently initiated and extensively progress should be made to develop a full fledged currency union between Iran and Afghanistan.

The development of the ITC sector is of crucial importance of Afghanistan’s national defense. It can be a major means for sectoral integration of the economy. Moreover, the ITC industry can play a vital role in the country counter insurgency strategy and in monitoring and frustrating impending targeted drone attacks. Iran has developed a strong ITC sector effective both in sectoral technological upgrade and in surveillance of counter revolutionary espionage. Provision of ITC sector, experties and services to Afghanistan can be of mutual benefit to both these Islamic countries.

Respected Ulema, I submit that defending the Islamic revolution in Afghanistan is a vital national interest of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This is evident from the fact that the terrorist attacks in Afghanistan are directly targeting our Shia brothers. Developing a transnational anti-terrorist strategy is vital for promoting Shia-Sunni unity in the region. I therefore appeal to you that the Islamic Republic of Iran should be the first country to officially recognize Afghanistan and that you prioritize economic and defense policy coordination between these two brotherly countries.