بسم الله الرحمن الرحیم                                                                            Statement  By Ambassador Esmaeil Baghaei Hamaneh Permanent Representative of the Islamic Republic of Iran  To the UN Office and Other International Organizations in Geneva Before Thirty-first special session of the Human Rights Council “Serious Human Rights Concerns and Situation in Afghanistan”  Geneva, 24 August 2021   Afghans deserve to live in peace and dignity at home and in good neighborly relations with their neighbors, free from unlawful military interventions.  This can only be achieved through an inclusive and pluralistic government comprising of all religious and ethnic components of Afghan society. A thorough Afghan-led, Afghan-owned and Afghan-controlled peace and reconciliation process should be expedited to that end. The dearly won achievements of Afghan nation should not be compromised.     Iran strongly condemns all kinds of violence and violent extremism, human rights abuses and violations of humanitarian law in Afghanistan. No atrocity should be left unpunished.    The current situation in Afghanistan cannot be delinked from the US-led prolonged military intervention that has afflicted the country with untold devastation, suffering and despair and which has brought instability and insecurity to the broader region. They cannot evade their responsibility for the dire consequences of their calamitous military presence there.   Iran, a neighboring country with tremendous bonds of proximity with Afghanistan, has been hosting millions of Afghan refugees for the past 4 decades. We urge the international community to fulfill its shared responsibility, including by assisting in allocation of adequate vaccines to inoculate Afghan refugees against Covid-19.   Iran has made every effort during the past decades to help Afghanistan thrive as a stable and secure State. We have tried our best to facilitate inter-Afghan peace dialogue, and will continue to do so.   I thank you