Iran scorns US claim of planned pullout from Afghanistan

KABUL (Pajhwok): Iran has poured scorn on the Biden administration’s claims that the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan had been planned.

Given a choice, the Iranian foreign minister opined, Washington would not have opted for the embarrassing pullout from Afghanistan.

Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said in an interview on Sunday: “You saw how the US withdrew from Afghanistan after 20 years in such a manner.”

He told Press TV if the US could withdraw with dignity, it would have certainly decided against leaving Afghanistan in such a chaotic way.

In September last year, the US said developments in Afghanistan, from the American pullout to the Taliban’s return to power, had been pre-planned.

However, the Iranian foreign minister rejected the claim as groundless and said the Americans had sought Iran’s cooperation to get through that stage.

Abdollahian added: “It was the Afghan people’s resistance that forced the US out of the country after 20 years (of conflict).”

PAN Monitor/mud