Iran Special Envoy For Afghanistan Speaks Of Relations With Taliban

Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi’s special representative for Afghanistan and a lawmaker have said that agreement with the Taliban is possible on certain issues.

Hassan Kazemi-Ghomi who was appointed as Raisi’s point-man on Afghanistan told Iran’s state broadcaster that it would be possible for Tehran to reach agreement with the Taliban over water sharing issues and prevention of narcotics smuggling.

He added that Afghanistan is currently affected by security crisis and Iran should “consider priorities and prevailing condition.” Kazemi-Ghomi repeated statements made earlier by Iranian officials that there is a “foreign conspiracy” to plunge regional countries in conflict and Iran should try to “emerge from this situation”.

Meanwhile, Hassan Hemmati, a member of parliament’s national security committee has said that if Taliban can provide security and protect the rights of all religious groups “It would be possible to have normal relations with them” guided by Iran;s national interests.

Since the Taliban takeover, Tehran has been cautiously suggesting that the Islamic militant group has changed, and they are the de-facto rulers of Afghanistan. It has also avoided supporting anti-Taliban rebels. But Iran has also insisted that the Taliban respect the rights of religious and ethnic minorities, particularly Shiites.