TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) – Iran on Monday “strongly” condemned a Taliban military attack against holdout fighters in Afghanistan’s Panjshir Valley, as the Islamic group claimed it had taken control of the region.
“The news coming out of Panjshir is really worrying,” Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told reporters. “The attack is strongly condemned.”
Iran has so far refrained from criticizing the Taliban, the main Muslim Shia power in the region, since the capture of Kabul by Sunni groups on 15 August.
The Taliban claimed victory in the mountainous Panjshir area on Monday, with a spokesman declaring that “our country is completely out of the quagmire of war,” three weeks after Islamists captured the capital.
But the National Resistance Front (NRF), made up of anti-Taliban militias and former Afghan security forces, said its fighters were still present in “strategic positions” in the Valley, and were continuing to fight.
The leader of the resistance movement on Monday called for a “national uprising” against the Taliban.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh during a news conference in Tehran on February 22, 2021. (Atta Canare/AFP)
In an audio message sent to the media, National Resistance Front commander Ahmed Masood said: “Wherever you are, inside or outside, I call upon you to launch a national rebellion for the dignity, freedom and prosperity of our country. “
Iran’s Khatibzadeh said the issue should be resolved through dialogue.
Khatibzadeh said, “On the question of Panjshir, I have emphasized that it should be resolved through dialogue in the presence of all Afghan elders.
“The Taliban must equally respect their obligations in terms of international law and their commitments,” he said, reaffirming that “Iran favors the establishment of a representative government for all Afghans with all the suffering of the Afghan people.” Will work to end it.”
Referring to Pakistan, Khatibzadeh said Iran condemns “all foreign interference” in Afghan affairs.
“We wish to inform our friends and those who may make the strategic mistake of entering Afghanistan with different intentions, that Afghanistan is not a country that accepts the enemy. [or] attackers” on their soil, a spokesman for Iran’s foreign ministry said.
Iran, which shares a 900-kilometre (559 mi) border with Afghanistan, did not recognize the Taliban during its term in power from 1996 to 2001.
Already hosting some 3.5 million Afghans, and fearing a new influx, Tehran has sought to build ties with the Taliban since Kabul’s power seizure last month amid the United States’ withdrawal.