Iran plays the Central Asia card

This week, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad kicks off a tour of neighboring states in South and Central Asia with a trip that begins in Kabul and ends in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, in time to attend the next summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO).

With the security deterioration in Afghanistan, openly admitted to by that country’s President Hamid Karzai on his recent trip to Washington, and rising Islamic militancy in the region and in China’s western autonomous region of Xinjiang, the Islamic Republic of Iran is a key regional player that can be counted on by the SCO member states, irrespective of China’s recent misgivings about Iran’s inclusion as a full member.

AsiaTimes