“48k Civilians Killed under Pretext of US Fight against Terrorism”
Iranian Judiciary Deputy Chief and Secretary-General of Iran's Human Rights Headquarters Kazzem Qaribabadi said that the US so-called attempts to fight against terrorism in the past two decades has resulted in the death of 48,000 civilians.
“Under the pretext of countering terrorism, the US has conducted at least 14,000 drone strikes in seven countries over the last two decades,” Qaribabadi wrote on his Twitter account on Monday.
“The result? 48,000 civilians killed, tens of thousands of homes shattered into pieces,” he added.
In relevant remarks in November, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani blamed the US for exacerbated misery, poverty and terrorism in the world, specially in Afghanistan.
Shamkhani made the remarks, addressing the third edition of the Regional Security Dialogue on Afghanistan in New Delhi, India.
He said that the US and its coalition allies should be held accountable for the myriad of crises Afghanistan is facing today, adding the “least responsibility” they bear is to compensate for all the damage they have inflicted on the Afghan people over the past two decades.
“Twenty years ago, the United States occupied Afghanistan under the pretext of confronting the Taliban and al-Qaeda, claiming to be fighting terrorism and preaching that they want to turn Afghanistan into a role model and a source of inspiration.”
However, instead of acting on such a claim, it made the situation in Afghanistan even worse, he said. “Terrorism, poverty and misery, as well as drug cultivation and trafficking and migration, increased while a large number of innocent people in Afghanistan were massacred by American fighter jets at weddings and mourning ceremonies for vague reasons. The state- and nation-building claimed by the United States ground to a halt.”
Shamkhani said the US turned out to be a failure even in its “most basic role, i.e. the establishment of the army and security system”, which quickly collapsed after Washington and its allies left Afghanistan and the Taliban group took over.
Having faced a “humiliating defeat,” the US was forced to escape from Afghanistan, after inflicting huge damage on the country, most significantly the carnage of thousands of innocent men, women, and children, Shamkhani added.
