Iran says Taliban must have Afghan role, but can't dominate
Taliban rejected repeated requests from regional powers to allow Afghan officials to take part in the talksNEW DEHLI: The Taliban must have a role in Afghanistan in future, Iran’s foreign minister said on Wednesday, but added that the group should not have a dominant role. Afghan Taliban were in Tehran for peace talks, says IranBut Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on a visit to India that Iran has had intelligence contacts with the Taliban because it needed to secure border areas controlled by the Taliban on the Afghan side. Afghan Taliban says ‘post-occupation’ discussed with IranZarif said it was up to Afghans to decide what role the Taliban should have but Afghanistan’s neighbours would not want them to be in overall control. “Nobody in the region believes that a Taliban dominated Afghanistan is in the security interests of the region. The Taliban have rejected repeated requests from regional powers to allow Afghan officials to take part in the talks, insisting that the United States is their main adversary.
Source: The Express Tribune January 09, 2019 12:45 UTC
