Tehran Reaffirms Support for Afghan Nation’s Efforts to Achieve Stability

A senior Iranian diplomat said the 20-year-long American occupation of Afghanistan brought “nothing but death and destruction,” reaffirming Iran’s support for the neighboring Afghan nation in their efforts to achieve calm and stability following the US military’s withdrawal.
In a tweet on Tuesday, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh described the US military’s pullout from the war-ravaged country “a historic opportunity” for the Afghan leadership to put an end to the cycle of violence and form an “inclusive government”.
A US military C-17 carried the last American troops out of Afghanistan on Monday, marking the formal end of the longest war in US history.
The final US pullout came ahead of the August 31 deadline set by President Joe Biden, following three-week evacuation efforts marred by violence and chaos.
Last week, more than 200 people, including 13 American troops, were killed in multiple bombings outside Kabul’s Hamid Karzai International Airport, which was followed by US drone strikes that claimed the lives of seven Afghan civilians.
Together with its allies, the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 to eliminate the Taliban; however, not only did the Americans fail to achieve that goal, they set the stage for other militants and terrorists to gain a foothold in the country.
Twenty years on, the Afghan government and military collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s swift advances on the ground, which many attribute to the hasty withdrawal of US-led foreign forces from the country.

Call for Inclusive Gov’t 

Iran, closely watching the dramatic developments, has called for a peaceful transfer of power and an inclusive government with the participation of all Afghan political and ethnic groups.
At his weekly press briefing on Monday, Khatibzadeh asserted that Iran was ready to facilitate intra-Afghan talks to help pave the way for the formation of an inclusive government there.
“We have always stood by the people of Afghanistan and our priority has been to ensure peace, stability and progress in Afghanistan,” he said, describing Afghanistan as a “dear neighbor.”
Last week, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei reiterated Iran’s support for Afghanistan, while referring to it as a “brotherly country, with the same language, religion, and culture.”
“Governments come and go. What remains is the Afghan nation,” the Leader stated, while censuring the US as “the source of Afghanistan’s crises.”
In his remarks on Monday, Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian also denounced the US misdeeds and missteps in Afghanistan.