Adopt friendly approach to neighbours: Iran to Taliban

NEW DELHI, October 27

Iran has called on the Taliban to adopt a friendly approach towards its neighbours and ensure they face no security threat from the Afghan soil.

“It is essential that the Taliban adopt a friendly approach towards its neighbours and take the necessary measures to assure them that there is no threat to them from Afghanistan,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said at a meeting among countries surrounding Afghanistan on Wednesday. Foreign Ministers of China, Russia, Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan joined the meeting, some via video link and others in-person.

India intends inviting the same set of countries next month for a meeting of their National Security Advisers in Delhi. The involvement with the format, known as “Iran plus six”, also means Pakistan NSA Moeed Yusuf will be in the mix. An Indian delegation from its National Security Council Secretariat visited Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province recently for a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation’s Regional Anti-Terror Mechanism.

As is the case with the Tehran meet, the New Delhi meeting will also not see participation by a Taliban delegation unlike on October 20 in Moscow, where its delegation sat with diplomats of 10 nations, including India. “I hope we can paint a clearer picture of the realities of Afghanistan and the expectations of the neighbouring nations most affected by the developments in that country, and develop a roadmap. If the economic crisis in Afghanistan is not managed, the situation will move beyond its borders,” said Iran’s first Vice-President Mohammad Mokhber. — TNS