صراط عشق صراط عشق
“News reports coming from Panjshir are worrying. The last night attacks are strongly condemned,” Khatibzadeh said addressing his weekly press briefing on Monday.
He reiterated that the only solution for Panjshir is the political solution and the blockade of the province is in no way acceptable in terms of international law and humanitarian rights.
“We regret the martyrdom of Afghan leaders. The foreign interference you mentioned should be investigated and we are considering the issue,” Khatikbzadeh added.
He pointed out that the history of Afghanistan has shown that the direct or indirect interference in Afghanistan’s affairs is doomed to failure for the invading forces.
“The released news about the blockade of the people of Panjshir is worrying and the principles of humanitarian rights under international law must be implemented in Afghanistan and Panjshir,” Khatibzadeh stated.
“People of Afghanistan are independent and self-sufficient people and any form of foreign interference in Afghanistan’s affairs is condemned,” the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman further said.
The Taliban claim to have advanced deep into Afghanistan’s last remaining province and holdout of resistance against the group, the Panjshir Valley, while opposition fighters say heavy battle continues in the province.
Taliban officials said on Sunday that overnight advances had brought several days of fighting to Anaba, an area close to the provincial capital, Bazarak.
Emergency, an Italy-based charity, which runs a medical center in the area, confirmed that the Taliban had reached Anaba.
Anabah lies some 25 kilometers north inside the 115-km-long valley. The Taliban also claimed that their forces had seized several districts in the Northern valley.
In a relevant development on Saturday, Khatibzadeh called on all Afghan groups to be committed to principles of negotiations in a bid to help resolve their disputes and avoid violence.
“Iran believes that lasting peace and stability will only be established in Afghanistan through holding intra-Afghan talks and without the presence and intervention of foreigners,” Khatibzadeh said.
He pointed out that Iran is in continuous contact with all Afghan groups and would spare no effort to help assuage Afghans’ sufferings.
Khatibzadeh blasted any foreign intervention in neighboring Afghanistan and said people of Afghanistan deserve a popular and inclusive government that reflects the country’s demographic and ethnic structure.
In relevant remarks last Monday, Khatibzadeh stressed that the Afghan people should decide about their future and no country or group outside the country should interfere in this process.
“We want the people of Afghanistan to decide about their own fate and think that no force outside the geography of Afghanistan has the right to decide about the future of Afghanistan,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters in a press conference in Tehran on Monday.
He referred to the recent developments in Afghanistan and underlined Iran’s support for the Afghan people.
Khatibzadeh also said that the lives, property, and honor of Afghanistan should be protected by all groups.
Tehran welcomes the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, he said.
Khatibzadeh said that the future government of Afghanistan should fulfill all its undertakings to maintain peace and stability in the country.
The US and its NATO allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the pretext that the Taliban militants were harboring al-Qaeda. The invasion removed the Taliban from power but it worsened the security situation in the country.
The militants intensified their offensive and rapidly overran major Afghan cities in recent weeks, as the US-led foreign forces enforced what was seen as a hasty withdrawal. The Taliban laid siege to Kabul on August 15. The then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fled the country on the same day
