Afghan Taliban visit Tehran for peace talks: Iran

TEHRAN: Iran said Monday that the Afghan Taliban have visited Tehran for a second round of peace talks in just a few days aimed at bringing an end to 17 years of conflict. “Yesterday (Sunday), a delegation of Taliban were in Tehran and lengthy negotiations were held with Iran’s deputy foreign minister... (Abbas) Araghchi,” said spokesman Bahram Ghasemi at a televised news conference.

That came just days after Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, visited Kabul and told reporters that talks had been held with the Taliban in Afghanistan. “The Islamic Republic has always been one of the primary pillars of stability in the region and cooperation between the two countries will certainly help in fixing Afghanistan’s security issues of today,” Shamkhani told the conservative Tasnim news agency.

Ghasemi said Iran’s priority was “to help facilitate negotiations between Afghan groups and the country’s government”.

The current peace push will be viewed with concern by hawks in Washington, who fear that Trump´s planned withdrawal of troops from Syria and Afghanistan will cede regional influence to Iran. Araghchi will travel to Afghanistan in the next two weeks, Iran’s foreign ministry said, without giving further details. “Considering our long border with Afghanistan and the cultural and historical ties, and our important role in the region’s stability, the Islamic republic was interested... to enter and play a more important role in peace development in Afghanistan,” Ghasemi added. Iran and Afghanistan share 600-mile border.