TEHRAN -- The English-language daily on Tuesday focused on iran's president seyed mohammad khatami's visit to afghanistan and stressed the need for expansion of bilateral relations in all arenas.

"if tehran and kabul reach a consensus on such issues as the return of afghan refugees and the anti-drug campaign and adopt a common position on the interventionist policies of a third party, president khatami's visit will mark a turning point in mutual ties and will promote cultural and economic cooperation," said `tehran times' in its opinion column.

according to the paper, afghan officials believe that khatami's visit to kabul, the highest iranian official in four decades, will usher in a new chapter in mutual relations between the two countries.

they have also expressed hope that president khatami's visit will help promote tehran-kabul relations in all spheres, it added.

during the past 23 years, the islamic republic has always supported the afghan nation in all their sufferings from internal and external conflicts and natural disasters, stressed the daily.

it noted that iran never cut its assistance to the afghans in their struggles during the soviet occupation of their country, nor did it stop supporting the afghan nation during the illegitimate reign of the taliban militia.

today, it pointed out, iran continues helping the afghan nation, even after the establishment of the afghan interim government. with this in mind tehran times said that the iranian majlis recently approved a bill to allocate 38 billion rials of aid for reconstruction projects in afghanistan.

it believed that iran must also facilitate the return of some 2.5 million afghan refugees it is hosting. the refugees have definitely obtained invaluable experiences while working in iran, and they can surely be of great help in afghan development projects.

the islamic republic expects the afghan transitional government to elaborate on its anti-drug campaign and efforts to replace the cultivation of opium poppies with food crops during khatami's visit, stressed the column.

this would definitely boost the chances of success of the two nations' efforts to eradicate drug trafficking in the region, tehran times further noted.

moreover, it added, tehran expects kabul to take more clear stances on allegations by the white house against the islamic republic regarding relations between the two countries and particularly on the recent comments of us special envoy for afghanistan zalmay khalilzad.

iran also wants afghanistan to inform policymakers in washington that they must obtain from making interfering remarks, continued the column.

according to the paper, president khatami who arrived in kabul today, met with high-ranking afghan officials, including afghan head of the transitional government hamid karzai and conferred on issues of mutual concern.