Foreign enemies will not invade Afghanistan in the short term, Acting Interior Minister Sirajuddin Haqqani said on Wednesday on the occasion of the 44th anniversary of the Soviet invasion.

Haqqani said at a ceremony in Kabul that the Islamic Emirate’s struggle against the US was not about gaining or sharing power and that the government should be responsible for people’s problems.

“God gave government and freedom. He paralyzed the enemies in their homes. I assure you that foreign enemies will not invade in the short term. We should not ruin the system with ingratitude and negligence,” Haqqani said.

Speaking at the same event, Abdul Kabir, the political deputy prime minister, said that the invasion of the Soviet army as well as the 20-year occupation of Afghanistan by the US and NATO were devastating for the people of Afghanistan. He added that the defeat of these powers should be a lesson for all the countries including neighbors not to think about intervention and occupation.

“We ask the world, especially our neighbors, to learn from our history. Afghans never tolerate occupation. No one should test us again. It is enough. We cannot tolerate non-Islamic thoughts. The world should understand not to underestimate Afghanistan and not to think about occupation,” Abdul Kabir said.

Abdul Salam Hanafi, the administrative deputy of the prime minister, said that the US belief during the negotiations was that there would be bloodshed in Afghanistan when the Islamic Emirate seizes power, but by the decree of the leader of the Islamic Emirate, all opponents were pardoned and bloodshed was prevented.

According to Hanafi, contrary to all the international norms, 800,000 Afghan refugees have been forcibly deported from the neighboring countries.

“During the negotiations, the Americans told us that if you take over Afghanistan, there will be a bloodbath. Alhamdulillah, according to the decision of Amirul Momineen Sahib (May Allah protect him) which was a very correct and Islamic decision, the Islamic Emirate announced that those who were at war with us for years are pardoned by us,” Hanafi said.

Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs Amir Khan Muttaqi said that the enemies of Afghanistan still want to destabilize Afghanistan and the matter of protecting the government should not be neglected.

“The enemies are still lurking. They want to step into Afghanistan again, but Alhamdulillah, everyone who failed in Afghanistan once, now has a different situation. If it was the Soviet Union, it has now become Russia, if it was Great Britain, now it is only Britain, and likewise, America is now confined to America and it is no longer a power that can rise in Afghanistan. But God forbid Afghans cooperate with them.”

Forty-four years ago today, Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan by air and ground operations, following which more than one million people were killed, injured, or disabled, and millions more migrated.