TEHRAN, August (RIA Novosti) - Afghanistan's U.S.-backed president told the Iranian leader in Kabul Tuesday that his country wants to help bring about a thaw in relations between Washington and Tehran.
At a joint news conference in the capital, a week after his meeting at Camp David with President George W. Bush, Afghan President Hamid Karzai said: "If we manage to help re-establish Iranian-American relations, we will be very glad. However, this will depend on decisions made by the U.S. and Iran themselves.
The U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Iran in 1979, and last week President Bush told Karzai that Tehran was "not a force for good," and accused Iran of playing a destabilizing role in neighboring Afghanistan.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's first visit to Kabul has been widely perceived as a gesture of defiance against Washington.
