Iran not to withhold help from Afghans

Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi says Tehran will not withhold any help from Afghanistan for the reconstruction and independence of the country.

“Iran is ready to help the friend, Muslim and brother nation [of Afghanistan] in all fields,” Rahimi said in a meeting with Afghan First Vice President Mohammad Qasim Fahim on Saturday.

Qasim Fahim arrived in Tehran earlier on Saturday on an official visit to hold talks with the country’s high-ranking officials, and was officially welcomed by Rahimi at the presidential palace.

Referring to the presence of foreign forces in Afghanistan, Rahimi said that “the hegemonic powers occupied Afghanistan under the pretext of fighting terrorism and through creating the September 11 incident” and endangered the Afghan nation by massacre and bloodshed, Mehr News Agency reported.

In 2001, the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the pretext of wiping out terrorism. However, the US-led occupation of the country has now turned into a long war of attrition.

Since the start of the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan, more than 34,000 Afghan civilians have been killed in the country as a result of the war.

Rahimi said the hegemonic order has in fact targeted Muslim countries, adding that “in every part of the world that war and bloodshed breaks out, it is targeting Muslims.”

“Problems in Yemen, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Kashmir and Bosnia prove this claim,” Rahimi said.

The Iranian official said the era of Western oppression is over and “we will witness the collapse of hegemonic order in the near future,” adding that the governance of Afghanistan would soon belong to its nation.

“The Afghan nation will never forget Iran’s complete support… in its time of hardship particularly during Afghanistan national resistance,” Qasim Fahim said.

“Iran has many capabilities and Iran’s progress in global arenas has made all Muslim nations happy,” he concluded.