Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran's presidential envoy to Afghanistan and the country's ambassador to Kabul, has said that the continuation of instability in Afghanistan remained an important policy for the US, according to official media.
In an interview with state-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) published on Wednesday, Qomi said that Washington has replaced its western forces with terrorist groups like Daesh*.
"The US does not want stability as well as improvement in economy, trade and security in Afghanistan. Because it feels that if stability is established in Afghanistan, it will lead to the investment of countries like China, with which the Americans are in serious competition," the envoy was quoted as saying by the state media agency.
This is not the first time that Tehran has accused Washington of stoking tensions in Afghanistan with the help of the banned terrorist group.
For its part, the Taliban** has maintained since it stormed to power in Kabul in August 2021 that it has been cracking down on the activities of Daesh in Afghanistan.
US Using Afghanistan’s Blocked Assets to ‘Exert Pressure’
Around $7 billion of Afghanistan’s funds lying in US-based financial institutions were frozen by the Biden administration in 2021. The US said that it would release the funds once the Taliban forms an “inclusive” government and lifts restrictions on women and minorities.
But the Biden administration has since announced that half of those funds will be used for the welfare of victims of 9/11 terrorist attacks. It said that the remaining $3.5 billion have been transferred to a Swiss bank account, ‘Fund for the Afghan People’, and these funds would be released “selectively”.
Regional countries, including Russia, Iran, China and Pakistan, have jointly called on the US to unfreeze Afghanistan’s assets in view of the worsening humanitarian situation in the country, according to a joint statement after the ‘Informal Meeting’ between the foreign ministers of four nations in Uzbekistan in April.
Qomi raised questions on Washington’s concerns over “human rights” of Afghans, as the country faces a crippling economic situation.
*banned terrorist group
**The Taliban is under UN sanctions over extremism.