US diplomat responds to Iranian allegations made in Islamabad
Shares
TEHRAN - The US Ambassador to Kabul John R Bass vehemently denied US involvement in transporting Daesh fighters in Afghanistan.
In a statement issued by Bass on Wednesday afternoon, the envoy said in response to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s claims of “US support for ISIS (Daesh) in Afghanistan are laughable and patently false.
“The facts are clear: US forces have removed more than 1,000 ISIS-K (Daesh Afghanistan) combatants from the battlefield, and the combined efforts of the United States and the Afghan National Defense and Security forces have reduced ISIS-K’s presence in Afghanistan.
“As Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Alice Wells said recently, ‘They’re very much in the cross-hairs at present.’ The Iranian government should be focusing on supporting the Afghan government’s efforts to promote peace rather than spreading falsehoods,” he said.
Resolute Support also responded to Zarif’s claims and rejected the allegations outright.
Captain Tom Gresback, Public Affairs Director at Resolute Support HQ in Kabul, said in a statement that there is no validity in Iran's claim that US Forces in Afghanistan support Daesh in Afghanistan.
“On the contrary, every effort has been made to kill them, and to prevent them from establishing a presence here.
“This false Iranian narrative has no substance, is based on no evidence, and repeats a deliberate Russian propaganda and disinformation campaign,” he said.
“The fighters of IS-K have been fought on the ground and from the air by increasingly capable Afghan Commandos, supported by coalition forces.
