The Absence of Virtual Social Networks in Intercultural Dialogues between Iran and Afghanistan

Owing to such factors as territorial and historical proximity as well as age old political, social and especially cultural relations as well ashaving a common language Kabul and Tehran have managed to establish fruitful and productive interactions with one another. The most outstandingaspect of such relations is the common cultural background that has resulted in the formation of strong intercultural dialogues between the two countries. It is to be noted that different factors have contributed to the formation of these dialogues. However, it goes without saying that what is clearly missing in these dialoguesis the absence virtual social networks, which have had a strong impact on man’s social life. The unique features of virtual social networks and the high number of users of such networks in both the countries makes the use of these networks a must with regards to strengthening cultural interactions between the two capitals. This is an issue the absence of which is strongly felt in the intercultural dialogues between Iran and Afghanistan. Keeping the above in view, the present paper has been written by resorting tothe library and document-based research methodology in order to find an answer to the question that “why and in spite of the large of number of users of social networks in the two countries there is a lacuna with regards to the use of such networks in intercultural dialogues and how could this lacuna be compensated for?” It has been argued that the lack of feeling the need for using virtual social networks among the cultural activists of the two countries, the absence of sufficient attention to the role that these networks can play in such dialogues and the different contents used by the Iranian and Afghan users in cyberspace have resulted in being oblivious to this media with regards to strengthening and expanding intercultural dialogues. Thus, the aim of the present research paper is to help strengthen the use of virtual social networks in cultural dialogues between the two countries with a constructivist approach.