Tehran, June 9 (IANS) The second meeting of the regional contact group for Afghanistan was held in the Iranian capital Tehran, the media reported.
Special representatives of Iran, China, Russia and Pakistan attended the meeting held at the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Institute for Political and International Studies on Saturday, the official news agency IRNA report said.
In a message sent to the meeting, Iranian caretaker Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani said that the US should release Afghanistan’s assets, which had previously been frozen, Xinhua news agency reported.
He added nearly three years had elapsed since the US troops’ withdrawal from Afghanistan, the country was still struggling to solve outstanding problems in economy and development.
Bagheri Kani noted that although Afghanistan’s caretaker government had managed to attain achievements in tackling certain challenges, the freezing of the country’s assets had hindered post-war recovery.
Speaking at a press conference following the meeting in Tehran, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, the Iranian president’s special envoy on Afghanistan affairs, said the participants highlighted the necessity to resolve Afghanistan’s issues through regional dialogue and cooperation.
He noted that addressing issues such as fighting terrorism and improving humanitarian conditions relied on regional cooperation.
Among the other issues discussed during the meeting were ensuring common borders’ security and those about Afghan refugees, said Kazemi Qomi.
He added the US, “which faced a failure in Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation,” should be held to account for the country’s current problems.
The US troops pulled out of Afghanistan in August 2021 after 20 years of occupying the country following waging a war against it in 2001 on the pretext of fighting terrorism.
–IANS
int/khz
