Tehran Says Will Use All In Its Power to Promote Afghan Dialogue, Reconciliation

By Staff, Agencies

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman, Saeed Khatibzadeh said the Islamic Republic will use all its capacities and available means to promote dialogue and reconciliation in the war-ravaged Afghanistan.

Speaking to reporters in a weekly briefing on Monday, Khatibzadeh reflected on the latest developments in Iran’s eastern neighbor, saying, “We are closely monitoring developments [in Afghanistan] and are in contact with all involved parties.”

“As [Iran’s Foreign Minister] Dr. [Mohammad Javad] Zarif said in his [Sunday] tweet, the Islamic Republic of Iran will use all facilities and means at its disposal to pave the way for dialogue and reconciliation in Afghanistan and also welcomes the initiative to form a coordination council,” proposed by Afghanistan’s former president, Hamid Karzai.

In a Sunday tweet after Taliban forces entered the Afghan capital and the country's President Ashraf Ghani left for a yet uncertain destination, Zarif rejected war and violence as a solution to the existing problems in the neighboring Afghanistan, reiterating Iran’s support for the establishment of sustainable peace in the war-hit country.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran will continue its efforts to [help realize] reconciliation in Afghanistan,” Zarif added.

The outgoing foreign minister’s tweet came after Karzai announced via a Sunday Twitter post the establishment of a coordination council, attended by high-ranking Afghan officials, including the country's chief peace negotiator with the Taliban, Abdullah Abdullah, to be responsible for the “peaceful transfer of power” and reduce the possibility of further chaos and insecurity that would harm the Afghan people.

Karzai noted that the council was formed after Ghani and other officials left the country in order to manage Afghanistan's affairs in the best possible manner and pave the way for the peaceful transition of power.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Khatibzadeh said Iran enjoys a great deal of historical and cultural commonalities with Afghanistan and has always stood by the Muslim people of the neighboring country at all sensitive and important junctures of history despite all difficulties and limitations.

As always, he added, Iran will stand by the Afghan people at the current decisive juncture and will "make its utmost efforts to [help] achieve peace" in the crisis-hit country.

"The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses concern over the intensified violence in Afghanistan and calls on all sides to reduce violence, maintain peace and try to achieve peaceful solutions via dialogue," Khatibzadeh said.