The U.S. military is concerned about Iran's activities in Afghanistan: As we have reported here before, the Army has commissioned its social science researchers to probe Tehran's influence in some Afghan provinces, and top U.S. officials have suggested that Iran is trying to make life difficult for coalition forces.

Iran's push for "soft power" in Afghanistan, however, may be undone by recent post-election unrest. McClatchy's Philip Smucker recently paid a visit to Herat, a major Afghan city near the border with Iran, and he found that the Iran's theocratic regime hasn't scored points with Afghans through its recent crackdown on dissent.

Afghan authorities recently closed down a student newspaper there after the Iranian consulate reportedly complained about critical coverage of events in Iran. That move, however, seems to have backfired, and Mohammed Faqiri, the spokesman for Herat University's progressive students' club, told Smucker: "The Iranian government has finally exposed itself as a theocratic, totalitarian regime."

It's not just young students who are changing their minds about Iran. Mohammad Rafek Shahir, an Afghan constitutional law professor and head of Herat's "Council of Experts," a local professional body, told Smucker: "We are impressed with the Iranians and their struggle for change, but with what has happened in the past weeks, Iran's influence here has been devastated. We don't have to be concerned with their efforts to influence Afghanistan any more since they are going to be obsessed with their own internal problems for some time to come."

Iran's influence in Herat is not to be understated. The city is linked to Iran's electrical grid, and its economy depends on cross-border trade; Iran's intelligence services are said to use Herat as a key listening post. If Iran has in fact diminished its prestige with the people of Herat, it will be interesting to see how recent turmoil inside Iran may more broadly reshape relations with its neighbors – and with national leaders like Afghan President Hamid Karzai (pictured here on a 2004 visit to Herat).

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]

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