The signing of a peace agreement between the US and the radical Taliban is an attempt to legitimize the presence of its troops in Afghanistan, Iran’s Foreign Ministry said.
“Iran considers the actions of the United States an attempt to legitimize the presence of its troops in Afghanistan and does not agree with them. America has no legal basis for signing a peace treaty or defining tasks for the future of Afghanistan”, – the diplomatic mission said.
According to the Iranian side, an agreement on peace should be reached only through inter-Afghan negotiations, the guarantor of which, like the agreements, could be the UN.
The US and the Taliban* signed a peace agreement in Qatar on February 29. It provides for the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan and the beginning of inter-Afghan dialogue.
Thus, the parties agreed that the United States will reduce the number of troops in Afghanistan from 12 thousand to 8.6 thousand people in 135 days, and after that they will continue to withdraw all American forces and NATO forces for 14 months if the Taliban* refrain from violence.
The document provides for a “permanent and comprehensive truce”. Direct negotiations between the Taliban* and the Government of Afghanistan will be conducted as part of an inter-Afghan dialogue.
After the start of the inter-Afghan dialogue, the Taliban* will begin to interact with the UN Security Council to exclude its members from the sanctions list. This could happen by the end of May 2020.
* – A terrorist organization banned in the Russian Federation