Iran's Ahmadinejad postpones visit to Afghanistan

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has postponed a visit to Afghanistan which was scheduled for Monday, the Fars news agency reported.

Fars quoted the spokesman of Afghan President Hamid Karzai as saying the visit would definitely take place in the next few days, dpa reported.

Siamak Heravi further told Fars that a high-ranking Iranian political and economic delegation will accompany Ahmadinejad to Kabul.

Heravi however did not specify the exact date of the visit.

The Mehr news agency had reported on Sunday that Ahmadinejad would start a one-day visit on Monday and confer with his Afghan counterpart on bilateral and international issues.

Afghanistan is one of the few countries where Iran and its arch-foe the United States have common interests, and common enemies such as the Taliban Islamists. Both sides also support the government of Karzai.

The Iranian president has often said the dilemma in Afghanistan could not be solved by military means.

Ahmadinejad said that instead of waging war, the West should have invested a very small part of its military budgets to create jobs for the 25 million people in Afghanistan.