Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) Saeed Jalili in a meeting with Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Ershad Ahmadi blasted the US for supporting terrorist groups and attempting to weaken democratic institutions in the region.

"The United States' untruthful claims about opposing terrorism and supporting democracy have been proved to the world community, specially the regional people from Afghanistan to Egypt, more than ever because support for terrorism and campaign against democracy have set the core of the US policies in the region," Jalili said during the meeting in Tehran on Tuesday.

He reminded Iran's usual advice to the regional states that Washington cannot be trusted, and said, "The US policies in the region show that it is against unity, stability and progress of the Muslim world."

Ahmadi, for his part, expressed the hope that cooperation between Iran and Afghanistan would increase more than ever in different political, security and economic fields after the complete withdrawal of the western troops from his country.

Iranian officials have frequently lashed out at the US and NATO forces for occupying Afghanistan for more than a decade under the pretext of war on terror.

Tehran stresses that the responsibility for the establishment of security and stability in Afghanistan should be in the hands of the country's government and security forces, but not foreigners.

Afghanistan has long been a focus of imperial rivalry and scene of foreign intervention, most recently since the 2001 US-led invasion but also in the 1980s uprising against Russian troops that ultimately helped bring down the Soviet Union.

 

News ID 184989