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Afghan FM Rules Out Using Afghanistan as Base for US Attack on Iran | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Cairo, Asharq Al-Awsat- Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar-Spanta has completely ruled out the possibility of the United States using Afghanistan as a base for launching a military operation against Iran.

Speaking in exclusive Asharq al-Awsat the Afghan Foreign Minister said “any reports on this issue are false; there are historic friendly relations between Afghanistan and Iran given that it is an Islamic state which is contributing to the reconstruction of Afghanistan.” He denied any differences between his country and Iran.

Dadfar-Spanta directly blamed Pakistan of interfering in his country’s internal affairs and supporting terrorists. He said “the sources of terrorism are inside Pakistan. There are many places called schools which are being used as centers for training terrorist elements. These should be destroyed and their use from the other side of the border should end.”

“We are certain that the support which the terrorists are receiving from Pakistan comes from within the Pakistani state. There are circles within the Pakistani Government organizing the interference in Afghani affairs. We have documents to prove this.” Dadfar-Spanta added.

The Foreign Minister expressed Kabul’s hope that Pakistan would cooperate in confronting terrorist activities. “We hope that some circles will stop using terrorists and terrorist groups as a tool for their foreign policy.”

The Afghan minister did not specify the number of Al-Qaeda members in the Afghan territories; however, he said that “they are an international network whose members come from several countries, such as Uzbekistan, Chechnya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some North African states.” The minister accused terrorist groups of demolishing 159 schools in his country, mainly girls’ schools. He pointed out that the policy to fight terrorism is not only military, but also educational and economic. He said: “If we succeed in accomplishing this within a year or two, we would have made an achievement in our fight against terrorism.”

On the other hand, the Afghan foreign minister pointed out the international cooperation efforts to achieve stability in Afghanistan. He praised Saudi Arabia’s positive role in reconstructing and bringing about stability in Afghanistan, and noted its contribution to the construction of the 600-kilometer Kandahar-Harat strategic road.