Afghanistan and Israel

RFE-RL reports on Hamid Karzai's interest in moving toward peace with Israel. Karzai's position, that he would support having full relations with Israel once the Palestinians are on the road to statehood, is close to the opinion of many Arab states, as seen in King Abdullah's Spring 2003 peace proposal. The article highlights its differences from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinehad's comments last week, but that shouldn't be surprising since even other Iranian leaders have distanced themselves from that rhetoric. I don't think Iran would turn on Afghanistan over this, as stability on its borders is too high a priority for the Iranian government. What struck me most was the Karzai advisor saying that Israelis have "the right to live in peace with their neighbors." This implies a recognition of Israeli legitimacy even without full relations, a good basis for future negotiations.