Taliban delegation visits Iran amid stalled intra-Afghan talks

MONITORING (SW) – The Taliban’s deputy leader Mullah Ghani Baradar led a delegation of the group to visit Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said visit of the delegation, led by deputy leader Mullah Ghani Baradar, comes upon an invitation from Tehran. He said the delegation will meet senior Iranian officials during the visit, including Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Iran’s special envoy for Afghanistan Ebrahim Taherianfard.

Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said the two sides will discuss “relations between Tehran and Kabul, issues related to Afghan refugees in Iran, and prevailing political and security situation of Afghanistan and the region”.

Meanwhile, the Afghan foreign ministry has said the government was taken into confidence by Iran about the Taliban’s visit to Tehran today. The foreign ministry said the purpose of the Taliban delegation’s visit to Iran is to inform them about regional consensus on the need for immediate ceasefire, a comprehensive peace agreement and the preservation of constitutional values.

This comes amid stalled intra-Afghan talks in the Qatari capital Doha.

Nader Nadery, member of the Afghan government’s negotiating team, said in a fresh tweet that no talks have been held for the past nine days. “Peace & ending the violence are our people & gov’s top priority. To achieve this noble goal the Peace Negotiation Team of IRoA (Islamic Republic of Afghanistan) is committed & present in Doha. 9 days that formal meetings are not held & otherside (Taliban) is not willing to engage in talks to end the conflict & save lives”.

ENDS

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