TEHRAN – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has said foreign interference in the Afghan peace talks is “unacceptable”.

“Peace is for the Afghans and must be managed by the Afghan government, and the Taliban must be part of this process,” IRNA quoted him as saying in an interview with an Afghan TV channel aired on Tuesday.

Zarif said on Monday that Iran supports an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process with the participation of all political groups and factions.

“We support an Afghan-owned and Afghan-led peace process with the participation of all political groups and factions including the Taliban with the Afghan government in the center,” he said during a speech at the Ministerial Conference of Heart of Asia Countries in Istanbul, Turkey.

He added, “We believe the United Nations could become active to bring all domestic groups as well as international partners of the Afghan government under one umbrella to facilitate this process.”

In a meeting with Afghanistan’s Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) meeting in Uzbekistan on November 1, Iranian First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri said that people in Afghanistan should decide their own fate, reaffirming Tehran’s support for Afghan-Afghan peace talks.

NA/PA