Tehran, March 18: The Iranian ambassador to the United Nation has expressed Tehran’s readiness to further contribute to the Afghan peace by hosting Afghanistan’s national peace council sessions.
Iran’s Permanent Representative to the UN Mohammad Khazaei has hailed the establishment of the Afghan High Peace Council and noted that “the Islamic Republic has announced readiness to host the council’s meetings with the participation of all Afghan political factions,” according to a statement released by Iran’s UN mission on Thursday.
“A secure, stable and prosperous Afghanistan would benefit the country’s neighbors and it is incumbent on Afghanistan’s neighbors to continue to meet at different levels in order to boost security and stability in the country,” Khazaei said during a session on the situation in Afghanistan at the UN headquarters in New York.
He also made a reference to the US-led foreign military presence in the war-ravaged country and said killing and maiming civilians under the pretext of terrorism is ‘unacceptable’ and causes concerns.
Some 150,000 US-led troops are currently fighting in Afghanistan, with plans to stay in the country beyond 2014.
In January, the US defense secretary ordered a surge in the US troops level in Afghanistan despite an earlier promise by US President Barack Obama to pull out American forces from Afghanistan by July 2011.
The Iranian ambassador noted that such a withdrawal would only be of significance when no foreign “military bases remain” in the country.
“Generally, foreign military presence cannot help establish peace and security in Afghanistan and would provide radical groups with pretexts to escalate fighting,” Khazaei added.
Last year was the deadliest for the international forces during the nearly decade-long invasion of Afghanistan, with more than 700 killed, compared to just over 500 fatalities in 2009.
The Iranian envoy also pointed to the ‘worrying’ trend of poppy cultivation in Afghanistan and the rise in drug-trafficking attempts from Iran’s eastern neighbor and called on international bodies to help take serious action against ‘the threat’ of narcotics.
On Thursday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative to Afghanistan Staffan de Mistura reported to the Security Council on humanitarian concerns in the war-weary Afghanistan.
Mistura noted that since 2007, 9,000 Afghan civilians have died in the conflict– “a great source of concern to the [Afghan] government and people.” The greatest annual toll of 2,777 was recorded in 2010, he added, stressing, “The key is to make 2011 also the year of a surge in protection of civilians.”
He also called on the international community to build capacity within the Kabul government to enable its counternarcotics bodies to cope with the “exceptional situation” posed by the drug trafficking that threatens Afghan and international peace and stability.
The issue warrants a shared responsibility among international stakeholders, he said.
——–Agencies