US would not have chosen 'embarrassing' Afghanistan pullout if it could, Iran FM tells Press TV

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian has dismissed US claims that its withdrawal from Afghanistan had all been planned beforehand, saying they would not have opted for such an “embarrassing” pullout if they had had other choices.

“You saw how the United States withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years in such a manner. If the US could withdraw with any dignity and had avoided the embarrassing pullout, it would have certainly not chosen this option,” Amir-Abdollahian said told Press TV in an exclusive interview broadcast on Sunday.

Even though the Americans claimed in September that all developments in Afghanistan, from the US withdrawal to the return of the Taliban to power, had been pre-planned, they requested Iran’s cooperation in the end to get through that stage, he noted.

“It was the Afghan people’s resistance that forced the US out of the country after 20 years. The same occurred in the previous decades, when the Soviet Union was forced to withdraw from Afghanistan. I call Afghanistan our honorable neighbors, who truly stood against domination in the mountains and in the terrains,” the top Iranian diplomat said.

Almost five months after the US and its allies hastily abandoned Afghanistan, millions of people in the South Asian country are on the brink of starvation, with no food and money.

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The Taliban’s return to power came as the US was in the middle of a chaotic troop withdrawal from Afghanistan in August last year.

The group announced the formation of a caretaker government on September 7, but their efforts to stabilize the country have so far been undermined by US-led sanctions, with banks running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.

Amir-Abdollahian said he told the Taliban’s caretaker foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi in Tehran last month that Iran would formally recognize the group after the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.

‘Iran open to both East and West’

Elsewhere in his remarks, Amir-Abdollahian said the current Iranian administration has adopted the motto of a balanced foreign policy.

“It means that a balanced foreign policy accepts both the West and the East. It means that we won’t put all our eggs either in Beijing’s or in Moscow’s basket. A balanced foreign policy pays attention to maintaining ties with all the five continents,” he said.

Amir-Abdollahian also said it is possible to have ties with Washington “if the Americans show a change in their behavior towards Iran, and prove they want to establish ties with Tehran on the basis of mutual respect and observing mutual rights, something they haven’t done over the past 43 years and did not do even before the victory of the Islamic Revolution.”

“We believe that a balanced foreign policy can best secure the maximum interests of the country and our people,” he added.

Iran FM: Expansion of neighborly ties top priority in Iranian foreign policy

Iran’s foreign minister says the expansion of ties with neighboring countries, especially Arab states, is a top foreign policy priority.

Iran, the foreign minister said, follows a “Look Asia” policy in its foreign relations because it is a major country in the continent and an important and active actor, and has a distinctive geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic position.

“Logic dictates that we should not ignore the potentials of a continent to which we belong,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

He went on to say that multilateralism can stop the United States’ unilateralist behavior, and that the diversity of actors is the most important issue.

“We will see new coalitions in the future that won’t look like the ones that we are witnessing at the moment. It won’t be the case that NATO would be the only military actor present and effective in all parts of the world,” the minister added. 

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