The US-led military incursion into Afghanistan was not an attempt to drive out the Taliban or Al-Qaeda, but rather an effort to lead the region, the political head of hard-line Islamists Hizb-e-Islami said Monday at a conference in Pakistan.
Ghairat Baheer, son-in-law of the group's founder Gulbudin Hekmatyar, spoke to religious leaders from Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran who met to condemn the presence of Nato forces in Afghanistan.
The group agreed that there will be no peace in Afghanistan if the Nato forces stay.
"US attack on Afghanistan was not to beat Taliban or Al-Qaeda, but you should know that they were looking for a golden chance to lead the region from Afghanistan," Baheer told the attendees of the conference in Peshawar.
Meanwhile, Leader of Jamiat-e Islami in Pakistan Qazi Hussain Ahmad said that the solidarity of Afghans is impossible if Nato troops remain.
"Solidarity of Afghan people is impossible with presence of Nato forces," Ahmad said.
"We want them out of Afghanistan."
Iranian representative in Peshawar also called for the foreign forces to withdraw from Afghanistan immediately, and the religious leaders voiced their opposition towards the signing and recent approval of the Afghanistan-US strategic agreement.
Afghan university professor Abdul Majid Naseri said in an interview with TOLOnews that their comments amounted to interference in Afghanistan, the same as if they were political leaders saying how the country should be run.
"Afghanistan is an independent country, we will not allow anyone to interfere in our internal affairs," Naseri said.
"We know better who to sign a strategic agreement with."
The Afghan-US long-term pact was approved by Afghanistan's parliament last week after facing some pressure from political elements in Iran and Pakistan to not approve it.
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