A European diplomat based here said the president "had, and for all I know still has, a genuine ambition to improve the conditions in this country."

"There is no justification for this type of uncontrolled military spending," said a high-ranking Western diplomat based here.

Both Iranian officials and Western diplomats based here say the two countries share the same larger goals of a stable government in Kabul.

"We're not sure what kind of bite we're taking on the food issue," a senior Western diplomat based here said.

"From everything that we can see, it was a fairly clean and fair election," a senior Western diplomat based here said today.

Nonetheless, American officials and foreign diplomats based here said they were persuaded that a period where diplomatic rather than military activity would predominate had begun.

"We had dismissed these guys as a bunch of clowns," said a senior Western diplomat based here.

Syria's rulers have lashed out before when threatened, noted a European diplomat based here.

One diplomat based here said, "Aristide does not like to share power, much less have to give it up.

"The situation is about as hopeful as at any time" since the two countries fought a mini-war in 1999, said a Western diplomat based here.