He made the remarks on Sunday, two weeks after the Afghan government and military collapsed in the face of the Taliban’s swift advances on the ground, which many attribute to an irresponsible pullout of US-led foreign forces from the country.
Hundreds of people still await evacuation at Kabul’s international airport as a Tuesday deadline to withdraw all American troops approaches.
The recent developments have caused insecurity in Afghanistan, with the Daesh terrorist group conducting deadly bombing attacks.
“The criminal US deployed troops to the region under various pretexts, including the suspicious 9/11 attacks,” Baqeri said.
“The United States has not left the region in all these 42 years, and as time passes, it concocts more conspiracies and threats against the region.”
The general said what is happening in Afghanistan is a tragedy and the US is behind it.
“The United States occupied Afghanistan with a lot of killings, lootings and many other crimes, but left the country with a humiliating defeat. It left the oppressed people of this country in the throes of problems, troubles and turmoils without a clear future,” he said.
“Despite spending over $2,000 billion in Afghanistan, the US turned the Afghan national army into a useless and spineless force with a glamorous appearance and seemingly advanced equipment that, in their own words, was able to resist an insurgent group only for 11 days."
Elsewhere in his remarks, Baqeri said that the development of defense power for the Islamic Iran is a definite and inevitable task for various reasons and necessities.
“The Islamic establishment is located in the most sensitive part of the world at a critical time. Over the past years, the most important conflicts and skirmished in the world have occurred in our region, and there is no clear prospect of seeing a period of calm and tranquility in the region,” he added.
Baqeri said although Iran's defense budget is very low compared to those of other countries, the achievements of Iran's armed forces are not comparable with their peers (Source: PRESS TV).
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