MP: Iran Backs Intra-Afghan Talks
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior Iranian lawmaker voiced Tehran’s support for the process of peace in neighboring Afghanistan and for the intra-Afghan negotiations without any foreign interference.
In a meeting with an Afghan lawmaker, held in Tehran on Saturday, Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Vahid Jalalzadeh gave an assurance that Iran would protect the interests of the Afghan people and will stand with them on the path to sustainable peace and stability.
Iran’s principled policy towards Afghanistan is support for the peace process and the intra-Afghan negotiations without any foreign interference, he added.
For his part, Afghan MP Amir Gul Shaheen praised Iran for assisting his country in tough days.
Afghanistan belongs to all Afghan groups and parties, he noted, warning that resorting to violence by any current would be detrimental to the Afghan nation.
Shaheen also said that Iran, as an influential country in the region, is expected to help the Afghan government and nation in the process of establishing peace and stability.
The security situation in Afghanistan has been deteriorating in recent months as the US winds down its so-called “forever war”.
The Taliban have been overrunning Afghanistan’s districts in rapid succession, many of them in the north of the country, which is dominated by Afghanistan’s minorities. The north is the traditional stronghold of many former mujahedeen leaders who have been a dominant force in Afghanistan since driving the Taliban from power in 2001.
The Kabul government has launched a “national mobilization” in response, arming local volunteers and resurrecting militia groups to take on the Taliban.
