Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s Special Representative for Afghanistan accused Washington of trying to turn Afghanistan into a geographical region critical for its neighbours.
In an interview with the IRNA news agency, Qomi claimed that the United States has been trying to send back Afghan special forces to Afghanistan for certain situations.
He said, "They [US] organised terrorist groups, like the ISIS, as a replacement for their military forces in Afghanistan or they try to call back the special forces which they trained during their presence, to send them to Afghanistan under certain conditions."
This Iranian official stressed that the US is trying to use Afghanistan as a leverage against "rival and hostile" countries.
Iranian officials have frequently attributed the unrest, and protests in the countries of the region to the "US conspiracy". Together with the Russian officials, they have repeatedly accused the US of establishing and supporting ISIS.
This Iranian diplomat claimed that the US does not want to improve Afghanistan's economic and security situation because they feel that stability in this country will lead to investment by rival countries like China.
According to him, the US is trying to hinder Afghanistan's engagement with other countries.
He said that by blacklisting Taliban officials, engagement between Kabul and other countries will be affected.
Taliban leaders are on the UN Security Council sanctions list due to their participation in terrorist activities and cooperation with Al-Qaeda in the 1990s. Members of the Security Council, including Russia, consider the Taliban as a terrorist group. Although Russia has a good relationship with the Taliban, it has not yet supported the lifting of sanctions on the Taliban in the Security Council.
Qomi also claimed that "the Americans use the frozen funds of Afghanistan as a pressure tool, or they take measures to manage Afghanistan under the cover of the United Nations”.
Qomi also accused the US of increasing the pressure on the people of Afghanistan with the "gesture of human rights" and "supporting women".
The US has said that the Taliban is far from gaining international recognition due to the suppression of Afghan women. In a meeting with Taliban officials, Iran also asked the group to respect the rights of Afghan women and agree to the formation of an inclusive government.
Western and regional countries are worried that the Taliban's policy to exclude other ethnic and political groups will lead to tensions and instability in Afghanistan.
Despite the criticism of US sanctions policies against the Taliban, Qomi did not mention human rights violations and the group's restrictive laws against women as the main cause of international sanctions.
