US keeps creating crises in region even after Afghanistan pullout: Iran’s security chief

Iran’s top security official slammed the United States for sticking to its strategy of creating tension and crises in the region, even after its “humiliating” withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Ali Shamkhani made the remarks on Tuesday while speaking to reporters upon his arrival in the Indian capital of New Delhi, where he is scheduled to take part in the third edition of Delhi Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan.

“Although the US has been expelled from Afghanistan after 20 years of aggression and occupation, it still continues to cause crises in the region as part of its tension-creating strategy,” Shamkhani was quoted by presstv.ir.

He stressed the importance of improving interactions and cooperation among regional countries to counter threats and factors that cause insecurity across the region.

The senior Iranian security official noted that the participants in the meeting would make joint efforts to discuss the root causes of crises in the region, particularly in Afghanistan, and find solutions that would help establish lasting and broad-based peace and stability in the war-ravaged country.

“The meeting is a very appropriate opportunity to pursue bilateral political and security dialogue among regional countries,” Shamkhani said.

The top Iranian security official plans to deliver a speech at the meeting and hold talks with his counterparts on bilateral, regional and international issues.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks. American forces occupied the country for about two decades under the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed into Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.

The Taliban wrested control of Afghanistan in August after a fierce offensive facilitated by a flash withdrawal of all of the United States’ forces from the country that had been announced by Washington back in April.

The government of Afghanistan rapidly collapsed on August 15, with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country in the face of lightning advances of the Taliban.

The group has pledged to allow the formation of a broad-based and representative government. Concerns, however, remain given its drawn-out history of violence.

Source: Iran Daily