TEHRAN -- Iran said on Monday while it welcomes any initiative that improves the situation in Afghanistan, it will never join a one-sided mechanism designed by the United States and other extra-regional countries for the crisis-hit country.
“What the Islamic Republic of Iran has always emphasized is that we participate in and support and welcome any regional mechanism regulated without the interference of trans-regional countries,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh told Mehr news agency.
Iran, he said, also supports any approach adopted within the framework of the United Nations that would improve the situation of the Afghan people.
Tehran has proved both during the rule of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and after the catastrophic escape of the United States and the fall of Ashraf Ghani’s government that it would never join a mechanism whose aim is in contrast with the will of the Afghan people, he added.
The same is true about a U.S.-led process on Afghanistan, Khatibzadeh said, adding the Islamic Republic would never accept an approach developed outside regional arrangements or the UN frameworks.
The U.S. invaded Afghanistan in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 attacks. American forces occupied the country for about two decades under the pretext of fighting against the Taliban. But as the U.S. forces left Afghanistan, the Taliban stormed Kabul and took over the Afghan capital.
The Taliban wrested control of Afghanistan in August after a fierce offensive facilitated by a quick withdrawal of US forces from the country.
The government of Afghanistan rapidly collapsed on August 15, with President Ghani fleeing the country in the face of lightning advances by the Taliban.
The group has pledged to allow the formation of a broad-based and representative government. Concerns, however, remain given its drawn-out history of violence.
Tehran on Wednesday hosted a meeting of Afghanistan’s six neighboring countries plus Russia aimed at coordinating efforts to restore peace and stability to the war-ravaged South Asian state.
In a joint statement at the end of the Tehran meeting, foreign ministers of Afghanistan’s neighbors stressed the need for allowing the Afghan people to decide their own fate in the absence of all forms of foreign interference.

The World Health Organization said Monday it plans to boost support to Iran in delivering health care services to the Afghan community in light of the recent developments in Afghanistan which has spurred a new influx of refugees into the country.
The announcement was made by WHO Representative to the Islamic Republic of Iran Syed Jaffar Hussain who visited the southern Kerman province in close proximity to the Iran-Afghanistan border last Wednesday at the head of a WHO delegation of technical expert and met with local and provincial authorities of Kerman University of Medical Sciences.
The visit provided a fresh opportunity to check on healthcare facilities providing services to refugees in Kerman province, including a vaccination centre and a delivery and maternal services facility dedicated to the foreign population in the area.
The refugee-exclusive vaccination center in Sharafabad, a densely Afghan-populated district in Kerman, provides COVID-19 immunization services to 400–500 Afghan nationals on a daily basis regardless of their legal status. The visitors get a choice between the Chinese vaccine Sinopharm, and the Indian jab COVAXIN, donated by the Government of India. Refugees under 18-years of age are inoculated using Sinopharm at this centre. Visitors also get vaccine-related health information in the form of brochures before and after vaccination.
“The delivery center for Afghan refugees is well-organized in terms of service provision and delivery, and the staff are dedicated and well-trained, but they require regular training and medical supplies,” said Hussain on the sidelines of the visit, pledging that WHO would support the health ministry in addressing them.
The current Afghan refugee crisis comes on top of millions of Afghan refugees already in neighboring countries. Islamic Republic of Iran has been hosting Afghan refugees since 1979, and according to UNHCR, there are between 3 and 3.5 million Afghans in the country. Nearly one million are considered to be de facto refugees, about half a million have Iranian visas, and the rest are considered to be undocumented.
On his mission to Kerman, Hussain also met with local and provincial authorities of Kerman University of Medical Sciences, and paid a visit to the Research Institute of Future Studies in Health and the Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine Comprehensive Centre, both affiliated to the Kerman University of Medical Sciences.
“We see Islamic Republic of Iran as a centre of knowledge and evidence in the Region, and need to work together to use this evidence in forming health policies,” said Hussain in the meeting. “We look to strengthen networking between the institute’s WHO Collaborating Center in Islamic Republic of Iran and global institutions and using your experience in building capacities for other countries.”