‘Iran Ready to Help Afghanistan in Anti-Terrorism Efforts’

“The Islamic Republic of Iran doesn’t spare any efforts to help the Afghan government to annihilate the terrorists,” Rahmani Fazli said, addressing a ceremony to celebrate Afghanistan’s National Day at the country’s embassy in Tehran on Monday night.

Noting that Iran has allocated nearly $500mln to the reconstruction of Afghanistan in the past decade after the US invasion, he said, “Tehran is ready to play a more serious role in the process of development and reconstruction of Afghanistan in the future and in line with accompanying the international community and the regional states.”

Rahmani Fazli stressed that Iran doesn’t see any limit to the development of relations with neighbors, specially Afghanistan, and wants removal of all obstacles to the expansion of trade, economic and investment ties to meet the mutual interests.

In relevant remarks in August, Iran’s top security official Ali Shamkhani said the country would try all its possibilities to help restore security and stability in the countries that are under terrorist attacks, including Afghanistan.

In a message to his Afghan counterpart, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Ali Shamkhani strongly condemned the massacre of civilians by terrorists in the country, and extended Tehran’s condolences to the Afghan nation and government on the occasion.

He stressed that such heinous crimes by Takfiri extremist groups would come to an end only through serious cooperation among the neighboring states in the war on terrorism.

The official further blasted the US presence in Afghanistan as a source of insecurity in the region, and said, “The Islamic Republic of Iran would make use of all its instruments and capacities to help achieve collective security and restore stability in the states that have been harmed by terrorism.”

He also said Tehran would “expand regional cooperation, specially with the Afghan government, to jointly confront this dangerous threat”.