Iran’s sharing of Taliban’s anti-American slogans doesn’t mean having common interests

Fereydoun Majlessi (source: Fereydoun Majlessi)

The foreign policy analyst Fereydoun Majlessi in an interview with the Iranian Journal of International Relations on the developments in Afghanistan under the Taliban and the Iranian attitude towards them

Ruhollah Souri 

This article was originally published in the Iranian Journal of International Relations:

The US withdrawal from Afghanistan and the presence of the Taliban in Kabul have pushed developments in Afghanistan in a direction that many observers see as a new era of instability, extremism and terrorism in the country. Meanwhile, the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has caused a great deal of criticism both inside the US and in other countries, because of the developments that took place after the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, including the formation of a government consisting of extremist figures in Kabul. Many have interpreted them as a failure of the US foreign policy in relation to Afghanistan and as a failure of US nation-building policy outside its borders. 

In addition to these cases, a significant issue is the type of reactions formed in Iranian society to the developments in Afghanistan, especially after the emergence of the Panjshir resistance movement, which has led to many debates and disagreements in Iranian society between different political and social groups. What should be the appropriate policy and approach for Iran’s national interests? This is a very important issue that has been studied by experts these days and we are witnessing various analyzes in this field. 

To this end, due to the importance of the issues raised, the Iranian Journal of International Relations has conducted an interview with Mr. Fereydoun Majlessi, an expert on international affairs and a former diplomat. Majlessi believes that the desire for money and power explains, to some extent, the Taliban’s willingness to negotiate with the United States and establish political power. Contrary to the insistence of many observers on creating insecurity on China’s borders and involving China in Afghanistan as one of the goals of the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Fereydoun Majlessi believes that common interests between China, Russia and the US will enable these countries to cooperate, to maintain security, while having reasonable economic competition. You can read the full transcription of this interview below:

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Against the false duo. Eastern European left and change

Warsaw (source: Andrzej Szypilow, Unsplash)

The role of the Bulgarian and Eastern European left in bringing about effective systemic change

Kamran Baradaran (Iranian Labour News Agency), Vladimir Mitev

“The failure to change the world may not be unrelated to the failure to understand it.”

– Ray Brassier, Concepts and Objects

This article was published on 25 July 2021 at the English section of the Barricade.

There’s an old Soviet joke from “Radio Yerevan” series popular in the 1950s. During one of the programs, a listener calls the station and asks, “Is it true that Rabinovitch won a new car on the lottery?” The radio host responds, “In principle, yes, it’s true, only it wasn’t a new car but an old bicycle, and he didn’t win it but it was stolen from him.” This perfectly describes the situation in Eastern Europe today.

Alireza Pourmohammad: The research center IBCE wants to contribute to the mutual acquaintance of Iranologists in the Balkan and Central European region

Alireza Pourmohammad (photo: Andrea Laura Kiss)

An interview with the Director of the “Center for Iran, Balkans and Central European Studies” on the occasion of the summer school of Iranian Studies which took place between 11 and 17 September 2017, about the goals, the achievements and the future intentions of this non-governmental organization

Vladimir Mitev

Alireza Pourmohammad is the Director of the “Center for Iran, Balkans and Central European Studies” (IBCE), which was established in Sofia in 2016 with the intention to contribute to the scientific communication and the development of Iranian Studies in Bulgaria and in the Balkan and Central European countries. He started teaching in the department of Iranian Studies in the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski” in 2008, where he covers “Introduction in Mysticism”, “Persian language and literature”, “Tehran dialect”, “Oral Persian language”, “Introduction in the Persian mythology and epic”.

Alireza Pourmohammad has graduated from the Iranian University “Allameh Tabatabai”. The joint work of the IBCE’s Director and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ivo Panov, who is the head of the department “Iranian Studies” in the Sofia University and a president of “The Association of the Persian Language and Culture’s Friends in the Republic of Bulgaria” led to the organization of several international scientific conferences in Bulgaria, to the translation and the publication of books, dictionaries and volumes with scientific articles in Bulgarian language. In the middle of September 2017 the first summer school of Iranian Studies with lecturers from Iran, Hungary and Bulgaria took place. There were lectures about Introduction to the Old Persian and Middle Persian language, Persian Classical Literature, Contemporary Iranian Literature, and about Iranian philosophy and religion.  These lectures dealt also with the historical evolution of the Shi’a sects, Iranian mysticism, etc. The Persian language (Farsi) seminars contributed to the overcoming of some specific problems, connected with writing and speaking in Persian language.

After the end of the summer school a meeting of the heads of the academic centers and Iranian Studies courses from Poland, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Serbia, Kosovo, Iran and Bulgaria took place in the central building of the Sofia University. The main goal of the meeting was the mutual acquaintance and the search for possibilities for collaboration in the field of Iranian Studies research. IBCE’s activity became an occasion for the blog “Bridge of Friendship” to talk with the president of this regional center for strategic research.