Iran calls foreign troops to leave Afghanistan

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.31

By Temkin Jafarov - Trend:

Iran's foreign minister says that the current terrorism, narcotics and extremism in the region have foreign roots.

"The mentioned increasing problems have made unsuitable conditions for several regional counties," Mohammad Javad Zarif during an "Istanbul process" regional meeting in China dedicated to Afghanistan on Oct.21.

According to IRNA's report, Iran's FM underlined that the people of these countries shouldn't be left alone and elimination of problems should be done by global cooperation.

Zarif expressed hope that extremism in Afghanistan would end with foreign troops leaving the country, since most of the current problems there exist because of foreign interventions.

Iran's demand from NATO to leave its east neighbor came while Washington and Kabul signed a "Security agreement" in late September for post-2014 era, when that NATO concludes its presence in Afghanistan.

Afghanistan signed long-delayed security pacts with the U.S and NATO on Sep.30 to authorize the deployment of a small international military force in the country after the end of the year.

Under the two documents Afghanistan signed, around 12,000 military personnel, mostly Americans, will stay in the country after 2014 when the current NATO-led combat mission ends.