US Leaving Afghanistan after 19 Years of Humiliation: Zarif
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the US is withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan after 19 years of “humiliation” while leaving “huge mess behind”.
"US occupiers should've never invaded Afghanistan. But they did, and blamed everyone else for consequences. Now after 19 yrs of humiliation, US has tendered its surrender. Whether in Afghanistan, Syria, Iraq or Yemen, US is THE problem. It will leave—while leaving huge mess behind," Zarif tweeted early on Monday.
It came after the US and the Taliban on Saturday morning signed a so-called peace deal to end America's longest-running war in Afghanistan.
Hours after the agreement was inked, US President Donald Trump said that he plans to start pulling troops out of Afghanistan immediately.
"Everybody's tired of war," Trump said at a White House press briefing Saturday afternoon, adding that the conflict in Afghanistan has "been a particularly long and gruesome one."
The US has agreed to begin withdrawing US troops from Afghanistan as long as the Taliban upholds its commitment to "not allow any of its members, other individuals or groups, including al-Qaeda, to use the soil of Afghanistan to threaten the security of the United States and its allies."
The accord states that the US will, assuming the Taliban lives up to its end of the deal, cut the number of American troops in Afghanistan to 8,600 in the first 135 days.
The US, as well as its allies and coalition partners, will withdraw all remaining forces from Afghanistan within 14 months.
On Sunday, Iran's Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying that the pact was an attempt by Washington to justify its illegal presence in Afghanistan.
