TEHRAN -- Iran’s special envoy to Afghanistan Hassan Kazemi-Qomi says the United States has not yet left Afghanistan and its people after its rash mid-August military withdrawal, and is using proxies and takfiri terrorist groups such as Daesh to foment instability and insecurity in the war-torn country.
Kazemi-Qomi told reporters that the situation in Afghanistan affects the security and stability of the entire region.
He was in Islamabad, Pakistan to attend the 17th extraordinary session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Council of Foreign Ministers on the situation in Afghanistan.
The envoy outlined Tehran’s position on the importance of the formation of an inclusive and national government in Afghanistan.
Such a government, he said, would subsequently overcome the economic and security problems, which are the fallout of at least 20 years of American occupation.
The OIC held the extraordinary session with the aim of alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.
The freezing of assets and humanitarian aid worth billions of dollars by the U.S. and its European allies has plunged Afghanistan into an unimaginable crisis, with millions of people teetering on the brink of starvation.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced in a tweet that Iran’s Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian met with Afghanistan’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi on the sidelines of the OIC’s extraordinary meeting.
According to the spokesman, the two sides discussed the current security and humanitarian situation in Afghanistan as well as bilateral ties.
“Trade, economic and political relations were also discussed,” he added.
Also on Sunday, Iran’s deputy ambassador to Afghanistan Hassan Mortazavi met Afghanistan’s acting second deputy prime minister Abdul Salam Hanafi.

Speaking at the meeting, the top Afghan official said the Taliban will never allow any military cooperation between the United States and Afghanistan.
Hanafi said Washington is still exerting pressure on Afghanistan, despite the country’s economic problems.
For his part, Mortazavi stated that Iran will continue to provide aid to the Afghan people.
The Taliban militant group took power in Afghanistan in mid-August, as the U.S. was in the middle of a chaotic troop withdrawal from the country.
The group announced the formation of a caretaker government on September 7, but their efforts to stabilize the situation have so far been undermined by international sanctions, as banks are running out of cash and civil servants are going unpaid.