Iran Reiterates Need for Formation of Inclusive Gov’t in Afghanistan

“The future of Afghanistan should be formed based on the will of the Afghan people and an inclusive government with the presence of all ethnicities. This is the voice heard at the Tehran summit as well,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Monday.

Also, regarding the recent incident that took place on the border area of ​​Sistan and Balouchestan province in Iran and Nimroz province in Afghanistan, he said that Afghanistan and Iran have 900km of bordering areas.

“The Taliban border guards were unfamiliar with the zero point of the border and opened fire based on a misunderstanding,” Khatibzadeh said.

He added that Iran’s border guards were also forced to respond immediately and then Tehran-Kabul tried to discuss the issue for a more accurate understanding.

“Now the two sides are familiar with the border points and direct communication via phone has been set up between them so that they can communicate if necessary.”

In relevant remarks on Sunday, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Ali Shamkhani said that conditions in Afghanistan are the outcome of Washington’s wrong policies, aggression and years of occupation.

“The current complicated conditions in the region, especially the situation in Afghanistan, are the result of wrong policies adopted by the United States, which only created crises, and the outcome of over 20 years of Washington’s aggression and occupation of Afghanistan,” Shamkhani said in a meeting with Kyrgyz Republic Security Council’s Vice Chairman Talatbek Masadykov in Tehran.

“Given the necessity for the establishment of peace, stability and sustainable security in Afghanistan, we believe that formation of an inclusive government, as an umbrella for all Afghan ethnic groups, is an important factor for the realization of this goal,” he added.

The US invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks. American forces occupied the country for about two decades under the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the US forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed into Kabul, weakened by continued foreign occupation.

The Taliban wrested control of Afghanistan in August after a fierce offensive facilitated by a flash withdrawal of all of the United States’ forces from the country that had been announced by Washington back in April. The government of Afghanistan rapidly collapsed on August 15, with President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the country in the face of lightning advances of the Taliban.

The group has pledged to allow the formation of a broad-based and representative government. Concerns, however, remain given its drawn-out history of violence.

Iran has repeatedly reaffirmed the need for the establishment of an all-inclusive government in Afghanistan and the improvement of the situation in the country but emphasized that Tehran would never join a one-sided mechanism designed by the US and other extra-regional countries on Kabul.