Iran hits back at Khalilzad, reaffirms its support for intra-Afghan talks
Iran has dismissed remarks by US Special Representative for Afghanistan Reconciliation, Zalmay Khalilzad, and said Tehran has long pursued a policy of maintaining balanced and friendly relations with all the powers of Eurasia and East and South Asia.
Mohammad-Ebrahim Taheri, the special representative of the Iranian foreign minister for Afghan affairs, said in a statement on Sunday: “The Islamic Republic of Iran supports peace and stability in Afghanistan and stresses the need to establish peace based on the outcome of intra-Afghan talks owned and led by the Afghans.”
“We recommend US officials first carefully review the stances [of Iranian authorities] before expressing their opinions about the viewpoints of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s officials about regional and Afghan issues,” he said.
This comes in response to Khalilzad’s comments Friday, during a video forum by the US Institute of Peace in Washington, that Iran has not been that supportive in the peace initiative.
Khalilzad said: “Iran has not been as supportive as it should have been in the effort to get to intra-Afghan negotiations and to an Afghan settlement.”
He told his fellow panel members: “The deputy foreign minister of Iran said in Kabul a few days ago that he doesn’t like the peace process and he doesn’t like the US military presence in Afghanistan which means that a formula they prefer is that the US abandons Afghanistan without a peace process which means war.”
This was in relation to Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Abbas Araghchi’s recent visit to Kabul. Araghchi said that the US’s intentions in the Afghan peace process are doubtful.
He also stated that the peace process in Afghanistan should be addressed through dialogue between Afghans, but that there are various factors that discourage Iran from the US peace plan with the Taliban.
“We believe that the US should not be trusted and that the US presence in the region is dangerous and will cause a lot of discord in the region,” he said.
He said the US entered into a deal with the Taliban and legitimized the group and held talks with them in the absence of the Afghan government.
The Tehran Times meanwhile stated on Sunday that Iran has opposed the US military occupation of Afghanistan and has expressed readiness to cooperate with any effort for intra-Afghan dialogue.
Officials from the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment say that 294,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit have been exported from the province to foreign countries over the past year.
According to them, the total value of these exports amounts to $519 million.
Abdulbaqi Bina, Deputy Head of the Kandahar Chamber of Commerce and Investment, says the products were exported to India, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, Canada and several other countries.
Meanwhile, fresh and dried fruit traders are calling on the government to provide alternative transit routes, new markets, and greater facilitation for obtaining visas and transportation for the export of these products.
This comes as nearly 59,000 tons of fresh and dried fruit were exported from Kandahar to foreign countries
The case of 87 Afghan students seeking extensions of their study visas has reached the Islamabad High Court, with the students also asking for protection from arrest, detention and deportation, Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper reported.
According to Pakistani journalist Tahir Khan, the students have petitioned the court to order the government to extend their visas and prevent law-enforcement agencies from harassing, arresting, detaining or deporting them solely because their previous study visas have expired.
During Friday’s hearing, lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel told the court that Pakistan’s Interior Ministry had issued study visas to the Afghan students about a year ago. However, the students say authorities have since stopped extending existing visas and issuing new ones.
The Afghan Students Union at the International Islamic University Islamabad has also said Pakistani authorities have suspended study visa extensions for Afghan students for an extended period. It added that several students have allegedly been arrested and deported in recent months.
The hearing was adjourned following an exchange between Justice Khadim Hussain Soomro and lawyer Aimal Khan Mandokhel.
The case is expected to be heard again later this month.
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