'US moving terror groups to Afghanistan after Iraq, Syria defeats'

Iran's top military commander says the United States is transferring Daesh to Afghanistan now that the terrorists have lost their strongholds in Iraq and Syria.

Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces Major General Mohammad Baqeri told Tasnim news agency on Tuesday that continued tensions in Southwest Asia would provide Americans with the much-desired pretext to prolong their military presence there.

A calm region, he said, would obviously mean that the US should withdraw its forces and that regional countries would take charge of their own security.

"After witnessing Daesh and other organized terrorist groups losing their ground in Iraq and Syria, they are now relocating them to Afghanistan," which has become the scene of fresh explosions, assassinations and crimes, Baqeri said.

He warned that the US continues to work on such schemes and expressed hope that the Afghan people would join hands to counter these plots.

Media reports emerged Monday about the US military pulling forces from a base in Iraq and moving them to Afghanistan.

The US and its allies invaded Afghanistan under the guise of the war on terror. Some 17 years on, the Taliban militant group has only boosted its campaign of violence, targeting both Afghan civilians and security forces in bloody assaults. More recently, Daesh has established a foothold in eastern and northern Afghanistan and stepped up its attacks despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops there.

EA