Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – August 14, 1998

In the reports, the condemnation of the Taliban's action in kidnapping the Iranian political staff in Mazar-e-Sharif by the UN Security Council is significant; Although the Taliban deny it and the Pakistanis also say that they have gone to Bamyan. Anyway, this issue can be an explosive point; Iran cannot pass this issue easily.

The Security Council has also condemned the explosion of American embassies. The number of their dead has exceeded 250 people, and in America, today, when the bodies arrived, Mr. [Bill] Clinton, [President] and Mrs. [Madeleine] Albright, [Secretary of State], spoke and emphasized the continuation of the current policy and no retreat. The repeated bombing of Bamiyan and the Shiite region of Afghanistan by the Taliban indicates a new conflict in which Iran will not remain without action.

The fall in the stock value of the Russian stock market since yesterday is a sign of the spread of the crisis in the East to other parts of the world. In Iran, the stock market index has been declining for several weeks, but there has been no noise yet.

Before noon, I studied for Friday sermons. I performed the Friday prayer at Tehran University. I delivered the first sermon on the miracles of the Qur'an from a scientific point of view, and the second sermon on the Azads and the events of Afghanistan and the importance of construction and explosions in Africa.

After the Friday prayer, Mr. [Alauddin] Boroujerdi, [Iran's Special Representative for Afghanistan Affairs], came home and gave a report on the situation in Afghanistan and a meeting with the leaders of the United Front, to determine how to continue the work and allow the leadership to prepare for the military and also to take over Herat, in case there is a flow of Afghans themselves, to take over and preserve the heritage, and he complained about the criticisms he received in the media and said, [Mr. Seyyed Kamal Kharazi], Minister The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has written a letter to the leadership and opposed military intervention, and the opinion of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to gradually build with the Taliban. He said that Sardar Nasser, the commander of the Ansar camp, is among the prisoners in Afghanistan and will probably be recognized, although his passport has a different name.

After the Friday prayer, there was a march towards the Pakistani embassy. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs disagreed. They asked me, I said there is no problem. In the afternoon, relatives were our guests, and in the afternoon he spent resting and studying.