Tehran Meeting to Discuss "Collective Engagement with Taliban", Says Iranian Official

Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s special representative for Afghanistan, said that participants in the Tehran meeting will discuss collective engagement with the Taliban.

Qomi said, "We must bear in mind that the events that occur leave their impacts on the region."

He stated that the Tehran meeting would also discuss holding the third meeting of the Regional Contact Group for Afghanistan.

The second meeting of the Contact Group for Afghanistan began on Saturday morning in Tehran. Representatives from Russia, China, and Pakistan are attending this meeting.

Ali Bagheri Kani, the Acting Foreign Minister of Iran, also stated that "occupiers" should contribute to addressing Afghanistan's economic backwardness without political interference.

Bagheri Kani urged the United Nations to pay more attention to the "humanitarian situation" in Afghanistan.

Rasoul Mousavi, General Director of the Iranian Foreign Ministry's West Asia Department, read Bagheri Kani's message at the start of the Contact Group meeting on Afghanistan.

In his message, it has been stated that the Islamic Republic of Iran supports constructive initiatives to ensure stability, national sovereignty, and territorial integrity in Afghanistan.

The Acting Foreign Minister of Iran says that, in this regard, the country has taken steps over the past three years to help the people of Afghanistan endure the hardships resulting from the "foreign occupation period" and the subsequent instability.

Zakir Jalali, an official from the Taliban's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, claimed that the group was invited to the meeting in Tehran regarding Afghanistan, but they will not attend it.

He mentioned that the Taliban expects meetings about Afghanistan to be held "through usual and established mechanisms”.

This meeting is scheduled to take place today in Tehran, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Jalali noted that representatives from Russia, Iran, and China have referred to this meeting by different names.

He explained, Iran calls this meeting the "Regional Contact Group," Russia refers to it as the "Moscow Format Contact Group Meeting," and China, which had opposed the "International Contact Group" for Afghanistan in the UN Security Council, considers the Tehran meeting as an opportunity for consultation.