Iranian President says neighbouring countries should support formation of "inclusive" Afghan government
Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said Afghanistan's neighbors should support the formation of a broad-based government in Kabul.
Raisi spoke on Thursday during a meeting with visiting Pakistani foreign minister to Tehran, saying other nations should only play the role of a “facilitator for establishing a broad-based and inclusive government with the presence of all people and groups.”
The remarks were posted on Raisi's website. He said Iran has hosted some 4 million Afghan refugees in the past four decades and it has supported the people of Afghanistan. The presence of Western nations in the region would not be conducive to its “security,” he alleged.
Iran has seen the presence of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and Iraq as a threat on its doorstep. It has welcomed the U.S. evacuation even as it cautiously looks to the next moves by the Taliban.
Unlike in 1998, when Iran came to the brink of war with the Taliban over the killings of several Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power, Iranian state media have in recent weeks claimed that the Taliban have changed and pose no threat to Iran.
Critics, however, warn that the Taliban will return to their anti-Iranian stance as soon as they shore up their full control of Afghanistan.
