Reaching out: Afghan Taliban negotiators in Tehran for talks

Visit is part of their move to establish contacts with regional countries

ISLAMABAD:

Top negotiators of the Afghan Taliban are visiting Iran as part of their “efforts to maintain relations with the international community,” a Taliban official confirmed to The Express Tribune on Tuesday.

It is the second time Taliban leaders are visiting Iran at the invitation of the Iranian government. The Taliban leaders last visited Tehran in June 2013.

“I can confirm that the Taliban leaders from the Qatar-based political office are currently in Iran,” said Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid. “They are discussing political and regional issues as well as the plight of the Afghan refugees in Iran,” he added.

The Taliban visit to Iran is part of their move to establish contacts with other countries, he said, adding that the Taliban negotiators now routinely pay visits to various countries.



The Taliban are scheduled to hold another round of talks with Chinese officials shortly, Taliban sources have told The Express Tribune. The two sides have held two rounds of talks in Beijing and Pakistan.

Section of the Iranian media has also confirmed the Taliban visit and said they are holding talks with Iranian security officials on regional issues, particularly the developments in the Islamic world.

The Taliban team arrived in Tehran on Monday, Iran’s Tasnim News Agency reported. The news agency is close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. Syed Tayyeb Aqa, head of the Taliban political office in Qatar, is leading the delegation.

The Taliban had strained relations with Iran during their rule in Afghanistan (1996-2001) and the relations were at their lowest ebb after the Taliban attacked Iranian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif in 1997, killing several Iranian diplomats and an IRNA journalist.

Iran had also been concerned at the Taliban approach towards the Shia Hazaras in Afghanistan as the Taliban had been accused of attacks on Shias in central Afghanistan.

Taliban passports’ controversy

Meanwhile, the Afghan Foreign Ministry on Tuesday denied issuance of passports to the Taliban leaders following reports that the government is in the process to issue 210 political passports to Taliban leaders to facilitate the peace process.

The Kabul-backed peace council had called for Afghan passports to the Taliban leaders and removal of their names from the UN sanctions list to allow their free movement.

The spokesman for the High Peace Council, Shahzada Shahid, said the peace process could gain momentum if Taliban leaders are issued passports and their names are removed from the blacklist. “The peace council has always called for removal of Taliban leaders from the UN blacklist and opening an office for them and providing them with an address,” Shahid told Shamshad television.


Published in The Express Tribune, May 20^th, 2015.