Kazemi Qomi made the comment at a meeting dubbed “Moscow Format Consultations on Afghanistan”, which was held on Friday in Russia’s fifth largest city, Kazan, also the capital city of the Russian Republic of Tatarstan.
The meeting, the fifth of its kind held by Russia to assess the situation in Afghanistan, was attended by the Taliban’s Caretaker Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi. Also in attendance were Tatarstan President Rustam Minnikhanov, as well as representatives from the Russian Federation, China, Pakistan, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkiye, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and India.
Participants discussed a range of issues including reconciliation among Afghanistan’s various parties, the country’s reconstruction after the US-led war, fighting terrorism and guarantees for regional security, among other topics.
The Iranian envoy criticized the United States’ policies towards Afghanistan in the past decades, calling them wrong.
He said that the 20-year-long occupation of Afghanistan by the US and its allies and the creation of what he called “a foreigners’ front” are not in line with Afghanistan’s national interests.
That front, Kazemi Qomi added, is seeking its own interests and is trying to impose its values on other nations.
In the opposite side of “the foreigners’ front”, there is Afghanistan’s “neighbors’ front”, he noted, expressing hope that the country’s caretaker government pursues the plan for implementing the neighborly policy through consultations with the neighboring nations and based on protecting Afghanistan’s interests.
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