By staff and agency

Iran not a threat to peace process in Afghanistan: U.S. intelligence

May 20, 2020 - 17:26

U.S. military intelligence recently said that Iran is not looking to destabilize Afghanistan and is not a threat to peace process in the country.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed in January that Iran is “actively working to undermine the peace process.” But the Defense Intelligence Agency painted a much different picture for U.S. government investigators supervising the war effort in Afghanistan, the National Interest reported on Tuesday.

The DIA told the Lead Inspector General in a Tuesday report that Iran has not indicated that it will “actively oppose” the peace accords, which call for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan.

“Iran’s strategic objectives relating to Afghanistan continue to be maintaining a stable Afghan central government and security along Iran’s eastern border,” the Lead Inspector General wrote in a Tuesday report.

U.S. forces are preparing to leave Afghanistan as part of a peace deal signed in February. U.S. Special Representative Zalmay Khalilzad left for Afghanistan and Qatar on Sunday to push for talks between the Afghan government and Taliban rebels.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had said in a March 1 statement that the U.S. government “has no legal standing to sign a peace agreement or to determine the future of Afghanistan,” but also welcomed the withdrawal of U.S. forces.

The DIA told the inspector general that “nothing in Iran’s March statements suggested Iran will actively oppose the deal, because it has previously voiced support for a U.S. withdrawal from the region.”

NA/PA