Iran says West neets its help in Afghanistan

Iran said on Saturday the United States and world powers will be unable to restore stability in neighboring Afghanistan without the help of the Islamic Republic.

"The U.S. and global powers have realized that the issues in Afghanistan cannot be solved without the presence of the Islamic Republic," Iranian government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told reporters.

Elham added that Iran would consider a U.S. invitation to take part in a meeting on Afghanistan and it was ready to offer any help to its eastern neighbor.

"If America and European countries and others need to use Iran, they should give us (the invitation). We will review it with the approach that we are ready to offer any help to Afghanistan," Elham said.

"Stability in Afghanistan and issues there are priorities for Iran, and it is important for us to help them."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Thursday that President Barrack Obama's government intended to invite Iran to an international conference on Afghanistan planned for this month.

"There are a lot of reasons why Iran would be interested," Clinton said. "So they will be invited. Obviously it is up to them to decide whether to come."

Clinton's comments were seen as the latest overture by the U.S. administration of President Barack Obama towards Iran.

There are a lot of reasons why Iran would be interested

Hillary Clinton

Shared interests

Washington and Tehran share several common interests in bringing stability to violence-wracked Afghanistan.

Iran is suffering badly from the effects of opium production in Afghanistan, with easily available heroin fuelling a rise in drug use in Iran.

The Iranians also have close ethnic and religious ties with Afghanistan and opposed the Taliban, Sunni Muslim extremists who were backed by Pakistan until the Sept.11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

On Thursday, at her first NATO meeting, Clinton proposed a high-level conference to define a better way to foster reconstruction and democracy in Afghanistan and halt the damaging Taliban-led insurgency.

She did not say where the meeting would be held, but that Afghan and Pakistani officials would be invited, with NATO allies, donors, international organizations and "key regional and strategic" nations.

Afghanistan election dispute

Planning for the conference comes amid a boiling national constitutional dispute over the election date which can only undermine faith in the system itself as it struggles to combat a resilient Taliban insurgency that is growing in both size and scope.

President Hamid Karzai said above all he wants to respect the constitution which states his term ends on May 21, after elections are held.

But the election commission says polls cannot be held until Aug. 20 as they could not be organized during the winter and extra security forces cannot be in place until then.

"As long as there is no election, the president will stay in office," Karzai said. The constitution made no reference to an interim leader demanded by opposition leaders to replace Karzai between May and August, he said.

The president said the national consensus was for polls to be held in August and opposition leaders either had to accept that or accept polls next month.

"I am calling for all sides to agree on the national consensus. We must respect the national consensus and stand by it and let the commission prepare for the election," he said.

The United States supports the August election date by when the 17,000 extra troops it is sending to Afghanistan to help secure the polls will be in place across the volatile south.

The election is the key test of progress for Afghanistan this year, diplomats says, and if the polls are carried out successfully they will eclipse any other failures and if they fail will eclipse any other successes in the war-torn country.

As long as there is no election, the president will stay in office

Hamid Karzai