Afghan president in Tehran for key talks

Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrived here Sunday for talks on a number of key bilateral and regional issues with senior Iranian officials.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Ebrahim Rahimpour said Tehran would convey its concerns to Karzai over a potential security pact between Afghanistan and the US, Xinhua reported.

If the proposed security pact between the US and Afghanistan is signed it would have negative consequences for the region, the Iranian foreign ministry had stated earlier.

The Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), if passed by the Afghanistan Loya Jirga assembly, will allow parts of the US troops to stay in the country after NATO withdraws from Afghanistan by the end of 2014.

Iran has accused the presence of foreign forces as the source of violence and instability in its neighbouring countries.