US chiefly responsible for Afghan refugee crisis: Analyst tells Press TV

The United States bears the main responsibility for the Afghan refugee crisis after 20 years of war in Afghanistan and the Taliban’s takeover of the country, says an analyst, adding that neighboring countries — Iran and Pakistan in particular — are carrying the biggest burden of the displacement of Afghans.

Sarbaz Roohullah Rezvi, a peace and justice activist and analyst speaking from the Iranian city of Qom, made the remarks in an interview with Press TV on Wednesday, after United Nation (UN) Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of a looming humanitarian catastrophe in Afghanistan.

“Iran and Pakistan are actually taking the main burden of the refugees. You should know that Afghanistan has the biggest numbers of the refugees across the globe. It has something like at least a minimum three million registered refugees in Iran and Pakistan. These are the registered refugees, but everyone knows that the number of the real refugees on the ground is much more,” Rezvi said.

“The problem is that the United States of America, who is the main responsible [party] for the occupation of Afghanistan and what they did in recent weeks and the evacuation from Afghanistan in that messy condition, is not taking the main responsibility of the refugees in Afghanistan,” he added.

Rezvi said that based on reports, 7,000 Afghans were daily crossing the borders of Iran and Pakistan either legally or illegally, adding that many evacuation flights had carried Afghans to different cities inside those countries.

He said 80 percent of Afghan refugees were either in Iran or Pakistan and just 20 percent of them had been taken to European countries and only a small number to the United States.

Almost 33,000 kids were killed, maimed in 20 years of US war in Afghanistan

Save the Children says nearly 33,000 children were killed or maimed during 20 years of US war and occupation in Afghanistan.

Rezvi also expressed regret that world bodies such as the UN were not questioning the United States for leaving behind Afghans under miserable and catastrophic conditions. Rezvi called on the international community to hold the United States accountable for the war crimes it had committed during its 20-year occupation of Afghanistan.

The analyst said the International Criminal Court (ICC) had reportedly taken some steps about the US-led forces’ war crimes in Afghanistan. However, he said, “no one is taking that serious now.”

Rezvi also pointed to the recent US drone strike in the vicinity of the Kabul airport, which killed nine members of an Afghan family, including six children, stressing that all Washington was doing was killing innocent civilians.

Enraged Afghans on US drone strike: They killed innocent kids, not Daesh bombers

The US drone strike targeting a vehicle believed to pose a "Daesh threat" to Kabul

The strike was allegedly in response to a bombing attack near the airport by the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group that reportedly killed 13 American troopers and at least 175 other people, mostly Afghan civilians.

The United States invaded Afghanistan and toppled a Taliban-run government in 2001, alleging that the Taliban were harboring al-Qaeda, which had claimed responsibility for the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York. The US completed a withdrawal on Monday.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk