Iran is ready to take advantage of its capabilities to support and welcome the Afghan dialogue, the Iranian foreign ministry said in a statement.
“Iran welcomes the peace process driven by the government and people of Afghanistan, and at the same time declares its willingness to take advantage of its potential and available capacities to support the Afghan debate process and host the negotiations in the event of a request from Afghanistan” , indicated the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Persian country.
The statement was released at the end of talks between Iranian Foreign Minister Mohamad Javad Zarif and his Afghan counterpart Mohammed Hanif Atmar.
During that meeting, the parties agreed to intensify regional and international consultations on the peace process in Afghanistan, concluding that it was necessary to create a regional initiative to overcome the crisis in that territory, with the participation of neighbouring states and major countries, as well as the UN.
Afghanistan is experiencing instability due to the attacks launched by the Taliban and, since 2015, the terrorist group ISIS (self-proclaimed Islamic State, prohibited in Russia and other countries), despite the strong military presence of the United States and its allies.
In late February, the US and the Taliban signed a peace agreement in Qatar, the first in more than 18 years of war. In addition to cutting the US military contingent in Afghanistan, the pact contemplates the release of thousands of prisoners by the Afghan government and the Taliban to pave the way for dialogue.
Since then, little progress has been made in the peace process, mainly due to an internal power crisis in Kabul and delays in the prisoner swap.
A new wave of violence, rated by National Security Council spokesman Javid Faisal, was unleashed in Afghanistan over the past week as “the deadliest in the last 19 years.”
During that period, members of the Taliban movement carried out more than 400 attacks and killed nearly 300 members of the Afghan security forces.
