Foreign troops fuel terrorism in Afghanistan: Iran’s envoy

NEW YORK, Dec. 20 (MNA) – Iran’s envoy to the UN has said today that the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and the terrorist attacks have led to a vicious circle which delivers the most harm to civilians. Speaking today at the UN General Assembly session on the situation in Afghanistan, Iran’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN Gholam-Hossein Dehqani stressed the importance of maintaining security in Afghanistan and said Iran’s policy toward this country has always been in line with supporting ‘peace, stability, security and socio-economic growth’ of Afghanistan. While expressing grave concern over the continuation and escalation of violence in Afghanistan, Iran’s envoy added, “the Islamic Republic strongly condemns all violent attacks on innocent people and Afghanistan’s infrastructures as carried out by Taliban, al-Qaeda, and other extremist groups.” “Unfortunately though, the presence of foreign troops and the terrorist attacks over the past few years have created a vicious circle the terrible consequences of which have befallen the Afghan civilians,” he said, noting that the terrorist and extremist groups were using the presence of foreign troops as a pretext to carry out their attacks on the country’s human and financial resources. Dehghani called for withdrawal of foreign troops from Afghanistan and added, “Iran decries any cooperation with these terrorist groups which would lead to their becoming more aggressive in conducting such heinous acts.” Following a recently Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA) between Kabul and Washington, under which nearly 13,000 US-led troops will remain in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 deadline for the withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, the Taliban militant group has vowed to escalate the attacks on Afghan forces and US-led troops. The United States and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 as part of Washington’s so-called war on terror. Since then, at least 21,000 Afghan civilians have been killed either by the terrorist attacks or NATO airstrikes. Some critics believe that the presence of the US-led troops in Afghanistan has fueled terrorist attacks instead of preventing them as was originally planned.