U.S. Made Terrorism A Personal Affair: Khatami

TEHRAN, August 14 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Iran blasted U.S. claims it was harboring members of the Al-Qaeda network as "unreasonable" Wednesday, August 14, a day after President Mohammed Khatami declared on a visit to Kabul that his country had been cooperating fully in the fight against terrorism.

"The reality is that the United States has made terrorism a personal affair, whence the unreasonable and irresponsible statements of [U.S. Defense Secretary Donald] Rumsfeld," public television said.

"We have announced that in no way will Iran be abused or misused by the terrorist groups who have been in Afghanistan," Khatami said.

"As soon as we have found people who have been members of Al-Qaeda we have arrested them and sent them back to their countries," he added.

Rumsfeld accused Iran Tuesday, August 13, of hosting members of Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network, despite Iran's extradition to Saudi Arabia of Saudi nationals suspected of belonging to the network, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"They are permitting Al-Qaeda to be present in their country today. And it may very well be that they, for whatever reason, have turned over some people to other countries, but they've not turned any to us," Rumsfeld said.

Meanwhile, a government spokesman said suspected militants would continue to be extradited to their home countries and not to the United States.

"In this affair, we do not have any particular cooperation with the United States, but we are in contact with the countries of whom these people are nationals," Abdullah Ramezanzadeh said.

Ramezanzadeh said "more than 16" Al-Qaeda suspects had been deported to Saudi Arabia, but did not give a precise figure. The government previously confirmed Saudi reports that the number was 16.

Nor did Ramezanzadeh say how many Al-Qaeda suspects had been rounded up in all, but only that they included European, African and Arab nationals, AFP said.

"We informed their respective embassies that a certain number of them would be delivered to their countries," he said, adding all suspects undergo interrogation.

The Saudis were among 150 mostly Kuwaiti and Saudi Al-Qaeda sympathizers and their families who were arrested in February, having taken refuge in Iran after the fall of the Taliban, AFP said.

Since then, Iranian officials have ignored repeated demands from Washington they be handed over to it for trial and have said that the war on terror should be led by the United Nations rather than the United States, with which it maintains no diplomatic ties.

Khatami, in his visit to Kabul, brushed aside Rumsfeld's past accusations that Iran was not cooperating in fighting terrorism.

The Iranian press hailed the results of Khatami's visit, which saw Iran pledging 50 million dollars in urgent aid to Afghanistan and promising to increase its efforts in reconstructing the war-weary country.

This is in addition to the 550 million dollars it promised to Kabul during a donors conference in Tokyo in January.

Kabul also gave its initial approval to Tehran's offer to train and organize its police and army forces, though this is uncertain given the continued presence of thousands of U.S. troops in the country, AFP said.

"We are much more concerned about stability [in Afghanistan] than are countries very far away," Khatami said upon return to Tehran Tuesday, in a clear reference to Washington, which has accused Iran of seeking to destabilize its neighbor.

Iran, which hosts some 2.3 million Afghan refugees, also promised 2,000 scholarships to Afghan students.

The press avoided discussing the strategic issues, in particular the mutual suspicions in Washington and Tehran towards each other's motives in Afghanistan.

However, one newspaper, Aftab-e-Yazd, said the support shown by Khatami's reformist-dominated government to Kabul aimed to reduce the long-standing tension between Tehran and Washington.

"Khatami's policies of rapprochement between Iran and Afghanistan could result in a reduction of tension between Iran and the United States," the paper quoted professor Sadegh Zibakalam, who is close to the reformists, as saying.