News / Politics

Iran: Taliban link claim smokescreen for US aid to Daesh

Monday, 17 August 2020 7:47 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 17 August 2020 8:26 AM ]

US Army Staff Sgt. Jason N. Bobo watches as a CH-47 Chinook helicopter prepares to land in an area in southeastern Afghanistan on Dec. 29, 2019. (Photo by Military Times)

Iran has dismissed "baseless" claims by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Tehran arms the Taliban, saying the allegation seeks to deflect attention from the American assistance to Daesh in Afghanistan.

“The accusations leveled by the US secretary of state amount to a type of blame game and an attempt at diverting the public opinion from Washington’s instances of assistance to Daesh,” Iran's new Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said Monday.

Khatibzadeh, a career diplomat, on Sunday took over from Abbas Mousavi who was appointed as Iran's ambassador to neighboring Azerbaijan.

Iran's new Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh (R) and outgoing spokesman Abbas Mousavi do a fist bump during an introduction ceremony at the Foreign Ministry in Tehran, Aug. 16, 2020.

In an interview with Radio Free Europe, Pompeo had accused Iran and Russia of arming the Taliban. “We know that the Russians have armed the Taliban in the past, right. We know that the Iranians continue to arm them today,” he said.

Khatibzadeh said the US has so far failed to provide any explanation for the nature of the helicopters that fly by NATO forces in Afghanistan to help out the Daesh terrorist group.

The United States invaded Afghanistan in 2001 under the banner of following the September 11 attacks in order to wage a “war on terror” thousands of miles away from America’s own borders.

The invasion toppled the Taliban militant group, but the group now controls more territory than at any point since being ousted from power and is engaged in peace talks with the United States.

Daesh has also gone from strength to strength, especially in eastern Afghanistan, after suffering crushing defeats in Syria and Iraq.

At the time of Syrian and Iraqi advances, various sources reported and regional officials confirmed that the US military was airlifting Daesh militants from battlefields and transferring them to Afghanistan.