Recently elected Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with his new Ambassador to Kabul, Mohammad Reza Bahrami, on Saturday. Speaking to the press, Rouhani promoted Tehran-Kabul relations, offering an overture to Afghanistan's sovereignty and criticizing foreign intrusion in its affairs.

"The problems of Afghanistan should be resolved by the people of that country," President Rouhani in his meeting with the new Iranian Ambassador to Afghanistan.

The newly elected President has made waves on the international scene softening from the approach of his predecessor and opening up negotiation channels with the West over Iran's controversial nuclear program. Nevertheless, his comments on Saturday indicated that in Afghanistan sovereignty is something he plans to promote, and international meddling something to rebuff.

"Certainly, the interference of foreigners will do no good to improve the situation in that country," Rouhani said regarding Afghanistan's future.

Rouhani's comments come at a time when negotiations over the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA), which would outline a continued role for the U.S. in Afghanistan's national security after the NATO combat mission ends in late 2014, are near conclusion. In addition to being called a critical step for Afghanistan to ensure stability post-2014, the agreement is considered somewhat of a crucible for future relations between Kabul and Washington.

Since a similar agreement crashed and burned in Iraq when the government in Bagdad refused to oblige U.S. conditions regarding troop immunity, relations between the two countries have been tenuous and Iraq has been overrun with bloody sectarian violence.

Although the Iranian President did not reference the BSA directly, most have interpreted his comments as being implicitly relevant to the pact. Officials in Pakistan also recently spoke about Afghanistan post-2014, and voiced anxieties about the continued presence of U.S. troops there.

A number of officials and representatives from Afghan political parties acknowledged the concerns about foreign governments' interference in Afghanistan's affairs, but assured of the nation's sovereign resolve.

"Iran and Pakistan's concerns regarding the security pact are understandable," said Asif Ashna, a spokesman for the Rights and Justice Party. "But Afghanistan, as a sovereign country, has the authority to define its relations with countries in the region and around the world. In the same way Iran is having nuclear energy negotiations with the rest of the world and Pakistan has relations with the rest of the world, without Afghanistan being concerned, Afghanistan has the same right."

In addition to criticizing foreign intrusion in Afghanistan, the Iranian President called for an expansion of Tehran-Kabul relations in a number of policy areas. However, whether a next-door neighbor or a faraway nation, Afghan officials were firm on the nation's independence and emphasized that any relations would be based on the best interests of Afghanistan.

"Afghanistan has relations with the world and neighbouring countries according to its national interest, the peoples' goals, security, peace and democratic system, so Afghanistan is not constrained by any other country's shackles," said Janan Musazai, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).