Afghan Vice President, Marshal Fahim, meets with Iranian brass, discusses military cooperation

During the 2008 Presidential campaign, Barack Obama stated that Iran had a vital role to play in the future of Afghanistan. Hence, it should come as no surprise that Afghanistan's Vice-President, Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, met with both the Iranian President and Defense Minister over the weekend.

Mr. Fahim toured Iran's Defense Ministry Abilities exhibition on Saturday and held talks with Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, where he thanked Iran for its support of the Afghan nation and called for increased cooperation, particularly in the area of defense.

Fahim decribed Iran’s role in helping to restore security to Afghanistan as 'Excellent', and added that he expected to see the development of bilateral relations in all fields during the construction era of Afghanistan.

Defense Minister Vahidi, for his part, praised Afghan martyrs, who died for freedom of their own country. The Defense Minister also announced Iran's readiness to help Afghanistan strengthen its army, and noted that Iranian-Afghan relations are strategic.

During his meeting with President Ahmadinejad, Mr. Fahim praised Iran as a “powerful state” in the region, and added that Iran could play a major role in the reconstruction of Afghanistan, and help restore peace and stability to the war torn nation.

Clearly, Barack Obama's plans for the bolstering of ties between Iran and Afghanistan are forging ahead, just as he had envisioned.

As the year 2010 comes to a close, it is worthy to note some of the foreign policy accomplishments which President Obama has achieved during his short tenure in office.

1) The START treaty, Obama's crowning achievement.

So great was this achievement that a prominent Russian official conceded that: "If one reads the text of the document [of the START treaty] carefully, then it becomes clear that Americans will really have to reduce the number of [nuclear] warheads, while if we [Russia] want to reach the levels defined by the document, will actually have to increase the amount of warheads."

Amazing!

2) Russia acquiesced to Obama's wishes and agreed to impose sanctions on Iran. So great was this feat that Russian President Dimitry Medvedev, during a meeting with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad several weeks ago, issued a statement saying that "following the" adoption of the UN "sanctions resolution", certain countries "sought to intensify sanctions against Iran, to which Russia strongly opposed and took stances against."

The Russian President added: "Russia seeks to improve its political, economic and even military ties with Iran."

Indeed, Russia is not only a major facilitator of Iran's nuclear program, it is also providing Iran with various kinds of armament and weaponry - thanks to President Obama's unparalleled diplomatic prowess.

According to President Obama's close ally, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, Russia has also agreed to loan Venezuela $4 billion to buy Russian military hardware. What's more, Russia recently sold Venezuela nearly 2,000 advanced, shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles capable of hitting aircraft as high as 19,000 feet.

"Equally and perhaps more alarming," says Mike McDaniel, "is an October agreement between Iran and Venezuela. The agreement establishes a joint ground-to-ground missile base on Venezuelan soil and calls for the sharing of missile technology and the training of technicians and officers..."

These weapons gives "Venezuela the ability to strike targets throughout South and Central America and throughout the U.S."

Without Barack Obama's "reset button", none of this could have come about. Simply incredible!

3) Ever since Barack Obama set foot in the Oval Office and began to both reestablish U.S. diplomatic ties with Syria and ignore Syrian intransigence, the Syrians have begun to re-exert their influence in Lebanon. Consequently, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who for years blamed Syria for his father's death, changed his tune several months ago and asserted that it was a mistake to accuse Syria of killing his father. Hariri is now bowing before the altar of Bashar Assad and Hassan Nasrallah. Were it not for Barack Obama's diplomatic skills, could this rapprochement, between once-forsworn enemies, have come to fruition?

Incredible!

I could go on and on, listing all of Obama's diplomatic successes. But suffice it to say that no other US President in the annals of American history has ever come close to matching Barack Obama's foreign policy achievements.

What can I say? Obama is truly unique, he's one of a kind, and he deserves to win the Nobel Piece Prize again - and again - and again - each and every year - from now until the end of time.