Media Campaign Aiming to Sour Iran-Afghanistan Ties: Embassy
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran’s embassy in Afghanistan warned of hostile media attempts at harming the relations between the two neighbors, dismissing recent fake reports about the Iranian Police mistreating Afghans.
The embassy of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Kabul emphasized in a statement that Iran’s policy on Afghanistan is based upon good neighborliness and mutual respect.
Rejecting as “baseless and inauthentic” the stories and reports that the Iranian Police have mistreated the Afghan nationals in an organized manner, the statement said a planned and purposeful media current is aiming to harm Tehran-Kabul relations, sour the deep-rooted and historical relations between the two nations, and foment phobia about Iran in Afghanistan, and vice versa.
Iran has been decently hosting the Afghan refugees for over 40 years and is currently playing host to at least 5 million Afghans, the statement added, noting that the Afghan citizens are receiving services in Iran equal to what Iranian nationals receive.
Following the recent developments in Afghanistan and the influx of refugees to Iran, the Islamic Republic has not put any obstacle in the way of Afghans and accepts new refugees although it itself is grappling with the cruel sanctions and consequent economic problems, the embassy concluded.
Following a fatal stabbing attack by a foreign assailant in Iran’s northeastern city of Mashhad, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi cautioned that the colonial outsiders are resorting to ethnic and religious issues to incite division between neighbors.
In comments on Thursday, Iran’s Interior Minister Ahmad Vahidi described the stabbing attack as a terrorist action to which the enemy has resorted to foment religious division between friendly nations, stressing that the unity between Iran and Afghanistan won’t be harmed by such moves.