Afghan senate speaker condemns alleged Iran’s intrusion
Deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province denies cross-border operation
FILE PHOTO
By Shadi Khan Saif
KABUL, Afghanistan
The Senate in Afghanistan on Tuesday lashed out at alleged Iranian military intrusion in the bordering Afghan province of Nimruz in December.
A commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) claimed about the operation on Sunday that has angered the Afghan lawmakers.
Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, the speaker of the Afghan parliament’s upper house, said such an operation by the IRGC inside Afghanistan is a matter of "disgrace".
“Whatever the Senators have said about the Sipah-e-Pasdaran (IRGC’s) operation in Nimruz province is a matter of shame for the foreign forces stationed here. The (Afghan) government and the international community should perform their due duties in this regard”, he stressed.
On Sunday, Mohammad Marani, the commander of IRGC’s Quds Base, said Hossein Hajmalek, an Iranian engineer working for a company cooperating with the IRGC, was kidnapped in Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province two weeks ago.
Iran’s Tasnim news agency has quoted the IRGC’s Commander as saying the kidnappers took the Iranian engineer to Afghanistan.
According to the commander, the hostage’s father asked the IRGC Quds Base for help after the kidnappers demanded ransom and threatened to kill the hostage.
The IRGC fighters launched a special operation following intelligence activities and coordination with the authorities and freed Hajmalek on December 24, he added.
However, according to Mehr news agency, the deputy governor of Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan province rejected the news reports regarding the cross-border operation.
“In the past few days, an operation to release a hostage was carried out in Nimruz city in Sistan and Baluchistan province, which some foreign hostile media outlets mistook Nimruz of Iran with a province in Afghanistan with the same name," Ali Asghar Mirshekari was quoted as saying by the news agency.
Officials in Afghanistan’s Nimruz and Farah provinces bordering Iran have long been blaming Tehran for supporting Taliban militants, a charge discarded by Iran.
