Iran: Taliban will spread to India

Munich, Feb. 6: Taliban-linked extremism in Afghanistan is blossoming because of the Western intervention there and is set to spread to India, Central Asia and Arab states, Iran’s foreign minister has warned.

Iran is deeply concerned about preventing the spread of drugs trade and extremism from Afghanistan, but is also bitterly critical of the NATO-led and UN-sanctioned mission in the country, Mr Manouchehr Mottaki said.

“The policies adopted in recent years in security, fighting against extremism and drug traffic ... the policies in this respect have been all defeated and have failed,” Mr Mottaki told a midnight session of the prestigious Munich Security Conference. Taliban-linked extremism “can be divided into two (regional) branches: one is going to spread to the Arab countries, the other to India and Central Asia”, Mr Mottaki warned. — DPA