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Invaders should take responsibility for ravaging Afghanistan: Envoy

Iran’s envoy to the European Union urges Afghanistan’s invaders to bear responsibility for the damage that they have afflicted on the Central Asian nation and the refugee influx that their actions have brought about.

Qolam-Hossein Dehqani made the remarks on Thursday, addressing a virtual meeting of the International Center for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD).

It was the 2001 invasion of the Western military alliance of NATO that has brought about the current situation that faces the Afghan nation, he said.

After the invasion “destroyed the social fabric and lifestyle” of the Afghan people, the Islamic Republic and a number of Afghanistan’s other neighbors were left to take the biggest share of refugees from the invaded country, Dehqani stated.

This is while the invading countries have been “systematically” shirking from the responsibility of their actions concerning Afghanistan “and closing their borders to Afghan refugees,” he stated.

Continuation of this trend “neither helps resolve Afghanistan’s crisis, nor does it lessen Afghans’ pain in any manner,” regretted the Iran’s envoy to Brussels, adding, “You cannot keep supporting Afghans in words, and avoiding them in action.”

Iran hosts close to 800,000 “registered” Afghan refugees and upwards of 2.3 million undocumented ones.

The number of the refugees have been on the rise since August, when the Taliban group rose back to power in the country.

Dehqani, meanwhile, repeated assertions that have been made on numerous occasions by either the Islamic Republic’s officials or diplomats that the United States’ oppressive and unilateral sanctions interfere with the host countries’ ability to properly address the needs of the Afghan refugees.

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