An Afghan traveling salesman poses for a portrait with his bicycle on the outskirts of Kabul, in Afghanistan, Wednesday, June 14, 2023 (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)

According to Iran's Acting Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani, a majority of Afghanistan's issues and challenges stem from the country's past occupation and the invaders' failure to prioritize its economic growth.

The last US soldier left the Afghan capital on August 31, 2021, marking the end of nearly 20 years of brutal occupation, which led to never-ending costs of lives and dollars. Some 66,000 Afghan troops and 48,000 civilians were killed during that period.

On Saturday, the Regional Contact Group on Afghanistan met in Tehran with members from Iran, Russia, Pakistan, and China.

In a statement read by his aside, Bagheri Kani detailed how "The reason for most of the problems and challenges Afghanistan is facing is the occupation of this country and lack of attention to its economic development, as well as the imposition of underdevelopment on it by the occupiers."

His statement explained how despite the occupying force's departure from Afghanistan, the nation continues to confront development challenges since its people have restricted access to Afghan resources.

The occupying troops are guilty of damaging Afghanistan's economic infrastructure and should pay their fair part to compensate for the country's damage caused by economic underdevelopment, the statement continued.

Bagheri Kani explained how among the problems is the mass migration of Afghans to neighboring nations, highlighting that a UN-controlled mechanism should assist Afghanistan in returning all emigrants by providing them with land and proper living conditions.

The statement also detailed how Iran has consistently supported constructive actions to achieve peace and stability in Afghanistan, including meetings of foreign ministers from surrounding countries and Moscow-format discussions.

The Taliban movement seized control in August 2021, deposing the US occupation. The Taliban is not recognized by the UN and several nations and organizations have discontinued aid and connections with Kabul.

Last month, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov declared the Taliban movement is the real authority in Afghanistan and Moscow plans to remove it from the list of organizations banned in Russia.

Biden administration failures drove fall of Kabul: former US generals

The top two US generals responsible for overseeing the evacuation of Afghanistan as it fell to the Taliban in August 2021 attributed the chaotic departure to the Biden administration, informing lawmakers on Tuesday that it inadequately prepared for the evacuation and failed to issue timely orders for it.

The rare testimony from the two retired generals publicly revealed, for the first time, the tensions and disagreements the military leaders faced with the Biden administration during the last days of the war. Two crucial differences highlighted included the military's recommendation to maintain at least 2,500 service members in Afghanistan to uphold stability and concerns about the State Department's delayed efforts to initiate an evacuation.

The remarks were in contrast to an internal White House review of the administration's decisions, which concluded that Joe Biden's choices had been "severely constrained" by previous withdrawal agreements negotiated by former US President Donald Trump. The review blamed the military, stating that top commanders had asserted they had adequate resources to manage the evacuation.

It's important to mention that thirteen US service members lost their lives to a suicide bomber at the Abbey Gate of Kabul airport in the closing days of the war, during the Taliban's seizure of Afghanistan.

Thousands of panicked Afghans and US citizens made frantic attempts to board US military flights, which were evacuating people out of the country.

The chaos ensued due to the State Department's failure to initiate an evacuation of US personnel until it was too late, as confirmed by both former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen Mark Milley and retired Gen Kenneth "Frank" McKenzie of US Central Command during their testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee.