The former president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, called for engagement among countries in the region, including Afghanistan, in a bid to prevent the interference of other countries.

He made the remarks in an interview with TOLOnews’ Sebghat Sepehr.

“I think we should all lend brotherly hands to each other in the region and cooperate and be friendly and sincere and build up the region, and defend the region together in economic, security and political areas, and there is no other way,” Ahmadinejad said.

The former president also stressed the need for the legal immigration of Afghans to Iran.

“An individual who takes a visa and wants to come, the government is obliged to support (him/her)…. Those who face traffic accidents or face problems with their employer, if they don’t have the visa, the legal system cannot defend them,” he said.

Ahmadinejad criticized the international community’s policy toward Afghanistan.

“The world's powerful countries look at Afghanistan as prey and make deals on it. It means there is an obvious deal going on about it,” he said.

In the interview, the former Iranian president talked about the Russian war on Ukraine, the tensions between China and Taiwan, as well the US and Iran.

“It was expected that Russia would go and take Ukraine--as Putin said to remake the former Soviet Union, meaning to bring all the lost areas together. China goes to take China and the US will come toward Iran,” he said.