Ahmadinejad To Visit Pakistan

The reports are saying that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will meet with Pakistani officials to discuss the issue of the continuing war in Afghanistan and also the proposed gas pipeline from Iran to Pakistan, but I don't know...perhaps Ahmadinejad is looking for some advice on how to conduct his first nuclear weapons test?

Here's an excerpt from the CBS story here:

Iran’s president Mahmoud Ahmadinejadand Pakistani leaders are expected to discuss security issues in their surrounding region, including worsening conditions in Afghanistan, when Ahmedinejad arrives in Islamabad on Monday for his first visit to the south Asian country. Ahmadinejad’s visit - a day after Afghan president Hamid Karzai narrowly escaped an assassination attempt - is a powerful reminder of the instability in the war-torn central Asian country with possible consequences for its surrounding region, a senior western diplomat warned. “If Afghanistan goes out of control, Pakistan and Iran will feel the consequences. There is a very real danger of the war in Afghanistan spilling over mainly into Pakistan, but the consequences will also affect Iran,” said the diplomat stationed in Islamabad in a CBS News interview given on the condition of anonymity.

I don't think Ahmadinejad is too worried about the Taliban's violence spilling into Iran - I think he is more concerned that if NATO forces block off the Pakistani border that the Taliban will try to flee into Iran, followed by the NATO forces. At the same time, Iran has had some issues with militants bringing attacks into Iran from the southwestern region of Pakistan.

But, when it is all said and done, I don't think it's a coincidence that Ahmadinejad suddenly makes this visit to Pakistan and then later in his trip visits India - both countries are currently holding nuclear weapons. Perhaps Ahmadinejad wants to better relations with both in case of some inadvertent nuclear missile miss that hits India or Pakistan instead of Israel and he wants to be sure that Iran isn't hit back in retaliation (okay, i'm getting a bit sarcastic now), but Ahmadinejad is more than likely giddy with excitement in joining the group of nuclear armed countries.

Ahmadinejad Makes First Visit To Pakistan

The diplomat said worsening insecurity inside Afghanistan may intensify the conflict in that country between the West (including U.S. troops) and members of the Taliban, with the danger of that conflict eventually bringing intense fighting close to the Pakistani border (as well as Iran’s border) at a future stage. Pakistan has been surrounded with persistent reports in the past two years for its linked to the Taliban movement which is believed to have carried out Sunday’s attack on Karzai. The Pakistani government has always denied connections to the Taliban, though Western diplomats insist that there is evidence of connections between the Islamic militants and their supporters in Pakistan, such as members of local tribes living near the Pak-Afghan border. For predominantly Shia Muslim majority Iran, a big concern is tied to militant violence in the country carried out by members of hardline Sunni militant groups who, according to Iranian officials, have operated from Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province. “Iran’s security concerns are directly connected to these people (militants) coming from the Baluchistan area,” a senior Iranian official told CBS News in an interview in February this year on the condition that he would not be named. After taking off on Monday morning from Tehran, Ahmadinejad will first travel to Islamabad for a stopover before leaving for Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka, on the same afternoon. On his return from Sri Lanka, Ahmadinejad would stop over in Delhi, the Indian capital, for discussions with Indian leaders. On Sunday, a senior Iranian official speaking to journalists in Tehran said Ahmedinejad’s visits to India and Pakistan could help push a longstanding plan for a new pipeline to transport gas reserves from southern Iran to the two south Asian countries which both face energy shortages. In recent weeks, Pakistani officials have said, the pipeline could be extended to China as well at a future date. “It looks like arriving at this agreement [for the pipeline] will not be out of reach [during Ahmadinejad’s trip],” said Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman speaking at a news conference in Tehran. “And it is natural that the matter (of the pipeline) which is one of the most important issues of interest by the three parties (Iran, Pakistan and India) will be discussed in the trip by the president,” he added. In the past, the U.S. has opposed the pipeline project estimated to be worth $7.5 billion on the grounds that it would inject fresh revenues to the Iranian economy which has been under U.S. sanctions - this at a time when Washington is seeking to further pressure Iran due to Iran’s alleged involvement with backing anti-U.S. groups in Iraq, and also due to Iran’s development of its nuclear program.