Speaking to ILNA, Hossein Salimi said that the water tension between the two countries is not a serious issue and this problem has existed since the era of Former Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani, adding that now Taliban claim that the level of water in Hirmand River has decreased and they are unable to direct water towards Iran.

He added that recent differences between Iran and Afghanistan has not much affected their trade exchanges, adding that the trend of trade between the two countries has been downward since last year because transfer of money between the two countries faced problems and some of the forex shops which were in charge of forex transfer between the two countries have been closed and currently there is no legal forex shop in Iran for working with Afghanistan and this condition has also happened in Afghanistan.

He added that the biggest branch for transfer of money to Iran was Harat which was in control of Afghans but this branch was closed down by the Taliban government but this forex shop has resumed its activities in recent years but he does not know when transfer of money between Iran and Afghanistan will be normalized in this branch.

Salimi reiterated that one of the reasons for the decline in trade exchange of Afghanistan is that the U.S. Administration has stopped helping Afghanistan as Washington has stopped its annual $4baid to Afghanistan and Afghans with those money used to trade with Iran.

He then pointed to the decline in trade volume of both countries and said that two years ago the trade volume was $2.3b but it fell to $1.2b last year and if the current trend continues, the trade volume is unlikely to surpass the past year’s figure and even it may decline while value of Afghan national currency has not reduced too much in comparison to Iran’s.

Salimi then said that the volume of investment by Afghans in Iran is very considerable, adding that Afghans are interested in investing in Iran, for example, out of 40 foreign investment projects at least 10 belongs to Afghans but the value of investment is low and around $500,000 to $20m.

He added that last year Iran attracted $2b of foreign investment that Afghanistan accounted for almost 20% of the figure.

He went on to say that Afghan businessmen because of problem with Taliban government prefer to transfer their capitals to Iran or Turkey but if they are helped, they prefer Iran. He said that five million Afghans are working in Iran and some part of this working population send their money to Afghanistan for their families and they usually change their rial into dollar and send to their country.

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According to the report which was published on February 2, aid organizations estimate that around 4,000 to 5,000 people are crossing into Iran each day.

Many fled through Nimruz, a remote corner of southwest Afghanistan wedged between the borders of Iran and Pakistan, the report added.

Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghans accounted for the second-highest number of asylum claims in Europe, after Syria, and one of the world’s largest populations of refugees and asylum seekers — around 3 million people — most of whom live in Iran and Pakistan.

Iran is hosting the world’s fourth-largest refugee community. The country has generously hosted approximately 1 million refugees for the past 30 years. The majority, which mainly came from Afghanistan and Iraq, live in urban areas. Approximately 31,000 of the most vulnerable refugees are living in 20 settlements located throughout the country.

Based on the latest statistics, over 3 million Afghans are living in Iran – some 780,000 Afghan refugees, over 2 million undocumented Afghans, and another 600,000 Afghan passport-holders with Iranian visas.

The recent fast-paced turn of events in Afghanistan has the potential to create additional population movements; displacing families internally and potentially driving them to seek refuge in neighboring countries.

It is estimated that up to 300,000 Afghan asylum-seekers have fled to Iran this year alone in search of safety, while UNHCR has only been able to screen some 24,000 newly arrived Afghans for protection needs.

António Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, has praised Iran’s generosity which – for decades – has hosted millions of Afghans in need.

“At this moment, we need the global community to put their hands on the wheel of progress, provide resources, and prevent Afghanistan from spiraling any further.

I will never forget the generosity of countries like Pakistan and Iran, which – for decades – have hosted millions of Afghans in need,” Guterres said in a statement released on January 26 to the Security Council on Afghanistan.

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On Wednesday, foreign ministers of Iran, Pakistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, as well as the Russian and Chinese ambassadors attended the meeting of Afghanistan’s six neighbors plus Russia — the second of its kind — at the Iranian Foreign Ministry in Tehran.

The foreign ministers of Russia and China also took part in the meeting online.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said the summit would focus on the new situation in Afghanistan, expressing hope that it will send a common message with a united voice to the international community, regional countries and Afghanistan.

“We believe that in the first place, all neighbors and the international community, in parallel, should pay special attention to the political and humanitarian situation, along with the spread of terrorism, drug trafficking, and the situation of human rights and women in Afghanistan,” he said.

Amir-Abdollahian also noted that the responsibility for the security of Afghan citizens and borders with neighbors lies primarily with the interim government in Kabul.

“Respect for other countries’ sovereignty, preservation of their territorial integrity and non-interference in their affairs are among the basic principles of the Islamic Republic’s foreign policy,” he said.

“If a strong message is being sent today from the Tehran meeting for the formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan, it is because of attention to the history and the role of the Afghan people in countering the occupation and the challenges of recent decades.”

Amir-Abdollahian blamed “foreign meddling” as the root cause of many of the problems currently facing Afghanistan and said the United States must openly accept responsibility “with a loud voice” for the catastrophes it brought about in the country during its two-decade-long invasion.

The United States must also stand by the international community in the serious measures that it will take to soothe the sufferings of the Afghan people and help the nation overcome its challenges, Amir-Abdollahian added.

Also addressing the event, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber said the security of neighboring countries is intertwined with that of Afghanistan.

“Accordingly, we supported the initiative of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to hold the first summit of the Afghanistan’s neighboring states, hosted the second round of the meeting and welcome the hosting of a third round by the People’s Republic of China,” he added.

Mokhber also said the U.S. spent more than $2.5 trillion to create a government in Afghanistan, but the failure of its irrational, irresponsible and reckless policy showed how alienated Washington is from the Afghan people, culture, and social environment.

“The United States and its NATO allies attacked Afghanistan two decades ago under the pretext of the 9/11 attacks purportedly to fight against terrorism. However, their 20-year invasion and occupation of Afghanistan has brought nothing other than insecurity, spread of extremism, rise of terrorism, economic backwardness, destruction of the foundations of independence, increase of drug production and the bereavement of Afghan families,” he said.

“The scandalous U.S. escape without a sense of responsibility for the security and future of the country’s people created painful and instructive scenes. It showed that America could not bring security, peace, stability and prosperity to the Afghan people and that reliance on foreign governments can keep no government in place.”

Referring to recent terrorist attacks at mosques in the cities of Kandahar and Kundudz, he warned that Takfiri terror outfits like Daesh are operating as a US proxy force against Afghan citizens’ security.

The Takfiris, he said, are trying to spark a new civil war by fueling discord and pessimism among different Afghan ethnic and religious groups.

“Today, it is the duty of the people and rulers of Afghanistan not to allow the reactionaries and aggressors to threaten the security of its people,” he added.

Meanwhile addressing the conference, Pakistani Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi called on the world community to pay attention to the economic situation of the Afghan people and prevent the occurrence of human tragedy in that country.

Qureshi also stressed the need to free the assets of Afghanistan.

The Second Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries started work in the Iranian capital on Wednesday. Foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as well as envoys of China and Russia are present in the meeting, while foreign ministers of China and Russia have taken part virtually.

Referring to Taliban’s August takeover in Afghanistan, Qureshi said the broad wave of refuge has been seen after.

About Tehran meeting, the Pakistani foreign minister said it is for ensuring coordination between Afghanistan’s neighbors to manage the existing challenges.

He went on to stress that all are after seeing a stable Afghanistan.

Meanwhile Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi hailed the Second Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Afghanistan’s Neighboring Countries in Tehran, saying it will reinforce diplomatic channels.

Addressing the event, Yi said China has held various consultations on the Afghanistan issue.

He added that Beijing will continue cooperation with different countries on Afghanistan aiming to improve the situation and to create a better life for Afghans.

Foreign ministers of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan as well as envoys of China and Russia attended the meeting.

Foreign ministers of China and Russia took part in the meeting virtually.

The post Washington Blamed in Tehran Conference forHardships of Afghans appeared first on Iran News Daily.

People lined up for hours to cast their vote in different provinces in what reports claimed was a chaotic start to the elections held after a series of attacks across the country in recent weeks.

Election workers struggled with a new biometric system as they took lot of time to locate names on voter lists. In some polling stations in Kabul, voting started considerably late due to chaos and mayhem.

The new biometric machines are meant to curtail fraud and irregularities. Independent Election Commission chairman, Abdul Badih Sayat, warned ahead of polling that the system might experience glitches and asked for voters’ patience.

Meanwhile, the Defense Ministry said it had increased its deployment of security forces to 70,000 from the original 50,000 to protect the country’s 21,000 polling stations.

Elections in the two provinces of Kandahar and Ghazni have been delayed as well as in 11 of the 400 districts following Thursday’s deadly attack in Kandahar which killed top political and security leadership.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani marked his ballot at the start of voting. In a televised speech afterward, he congratulated Afghans on another election and praised the security forces, particularly the air force, for getting ballots to Afghanistan’s remotest corners.

The list of candidates, which has been trimmed to 2,565 after the disqualification of 35, are competing for 249 seats in the lower house of the Afghan parliament. Many former parliamentarians are running again, along with young and educated men and women – journalists, activists, entrepreneurs.

Past elections resulted in deeply contentious results – in 2009, 2010, and 2014 – with candidates accusing each other and the government of that time of manipulation and vote rigging. In 2014 presidential elections, Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah Abdullah publicly argued over election results, before the compromise formula was worked out to form a coalition government.

The election had been repeatedly deferred due to the fragile security environment and national unity government’s lack of preparedness.

In the run up to elections, Taliban and ISIS have carried out a series of terrorist attacks. In the latest attack on Thursday in southern province of Kandahar, the entire provincial leadership was wiped out, including a powerful police chief.

According to the recent SIGAR report, almost 56.3 percent of Afghanistan’s districts are currently under government control and at least 30 percent of districts are contested, which shows the resurgence of insurgents and helplessness of the Afghan government.

Before November’s ministerial meeting on Afghanistan in Geneva, which the United Nations has termed “crucial moment” for the Afghan government, successfully parliamentary elections would be ideal.

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