TEHRAN - Iranian Foreign
Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian in a meeting with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has called for a boost to international humanitarian efforts for Afghanistan, describing as massive the influx of Afghan refugees into neighboring countries compared to the very small volume of international aid for them.
Amir-Abdollahian praised the agency’s assistance but described it as “woefully insufficient” given the wave of displaced Afghans heading toward neighboring countries.
“The wave of Afghan refugees heading toward neighboring borders is increasingly high and the volume of international aid is very small,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
He called on the UNHCR to play a more active role inside Afghanistan and help reduce the inflow of refugees through aid efforts.
The chief Iranian diplomat proposed that the UNHCR and the UN chief put on the agenda an international conference on fundraising for the Afghan people.
Iran cannot always be expected to help the Afghans and the European countries must do their part in this regard as the presence of thousands of refugees on their borders is turning into a crisis, he stated.
He also said that more than 520,000 foreign students are studying for free in Iran and that the vaccination drive in the country has included Afghan refugees like the Iranian citizens.
Grandi, for his part, praised Iran’s extensive efforts to help new Afghan refugees.
He also hailed as a humanitarian and important measure the vaccination of a high percentage of Afghans in Iran and the resettlement of new refugees entering the Iranian border on a daily basis.
He further said the idea of holding an international summit to raise funds for the Afghan people was significant.

‘U.S. Root Cause of Current Problems Facing Afghanistan’

Earlier on Monday, Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi in a meeting with the UN High Commissioner said that the United States is the root cause of the current problems facing the war-torn Afghanistan, urging international bodies and European countries to fulfill their commitments toward migrants.
Vahidi noted that Iran has a positive attitude toward the UN high commissioner’s office because of its efforts to provide humanitarian services.
Referring to the United States’ approach to Afghanistan, Iran’s interior minister said, “The current situation and conditions in Afghanistan are caused by the United States, because Washington has blocked the Afghan people’s money and this is the root cause of problems currently facing people of Afghanistan.”
He slammed as “inappropriate” certain countries’ treatment of migrants and added, “The Islamic Republic of Iran, with a humanitarian view, has always well treated foreign nationals, but this should not
 be a reason for Europeans not to fulfill their duty with regard to migrants and they should keep in mind that Europe is the main destination of these migrants.”
The minister emphasized that Iran has never built up walls to block migrants’ influx into the country although it has received little assistance from the international community in this regard.
“We expect the international community to understand this fact and to live up to its obligations vis-à-vis foreign nationals residing in Iran,” Vahidi said.
Iran also expects “effective financial support from international organizations and the European Union” in order to provide more services to foreign nationals in the Islamic Republic, he added.
Around 300,000 Afghan migrants have entered Iran following the collapse of the Kabul government and the Taliban’s takeover, at a time when the Iranian nation is facing unilateral sanctions and the international humanitarian bodies are keeping silent on such “inhumane” bans.
Afghanistan is facing what UN agencies have described as “one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters” since the collapse of Kabul in mid-August.
The U.S. military withdrew its forces from Afghanistan 20 years after they invaded the country to topple the Taliban, in a war that killed, according to one estimate, between 897,000 and 929,000 people.
Since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, the U.S. and its allies have imposed sanctions on the Central Asian country and deprived Afghans of any aid and assistance on the pretext of pressuring the Taliban.
However, human rights activists maintain that economic sanctions generally do not punish the rulers, but rather, hurt the population, lead to mass starvation, and fuel extremism in the targeted country.
Addressing the 112th session of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Council earlier this month, an Iranian diplomat said the international community must speed up the delivery of humanitarian aid not only to Afghanistan but also to its neighboring states hosting a large flux of Afghan migrants before the winter encroaches.
Mahdi Aliabadi, the deputy permanent representative of Iran in Geneva, said Iran had carried out broad measures over the past four decades to support the Afghan migrants, adding that the country had “spared no effort to improve living conditions, health and medical services, including the provision of coronavirus vaccines, education of students and other issues related to this group of Afghan brothers and sisters.”