TEHRAN -- A book containing guidelines offered by Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei to the Afghan people has recently been published in Tehran.

The book entitled “Ambassador of Enlightenment” was unveiled during a ceremony at the Tasnim News Agency in Tehran on Saturday.

A number of Afghan literati, including Movahhed Balkhi, attended the unveiling ceremony of the book, which was authored by Mojtaba Nikrahi.

Speaking during the ceremony, Balkhi recounted a brief history of the Leader’s relations with Afghans.

“The Leader gave the People’s Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan special attention from the beginning,” he said.

“When some members of the party paid the Leader a visit in Tehran, he offered them comprehensive guidelines, which were very helpful,” he added.

He also said that the speech, which the Leader delivered after the Taliban militias murdered Iranian diplomats and a journalist in Mazar-i-Sharif in 1998, was very “healing” for the Afghan people.

In addition, he referred to the Afghans’ connections with Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei when, during the reign of Iran’s last monarch, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, he spent a few years in exile for his revolutionary activities in the remote border town of Iranshahr.

“After his return from the exile to his hometown of Mashhad, many Afghan students from the seminaries in Qom, Tehran and Mashhad went to visit him,” Balkhi stated.

“His support from Afghans continued when he served as president of the Islamic Republic and now that he is known as the leader of the Islamic world, his support still continues,” he added.

Mohammad-Ebrahim Shariati, the director of the Tehran-based Afghan publishing house Erfan, which is publisher of the book, said that the book was published in 7000 copies, half of which were distributed in Afghanistan.

He added that 50 copies of the book have been purchased by the United Nations.

Photo: Afghan poet Movahhed Balkhi (L) and Erfan Publications director Mohammad-Ebrahim Shariati attend the unveiling ceremony of “Enlightenment Ambassador”, a book about Ayatollah Khamenei’s guidelines for Afghan people, at the Tasnim News Agency in Tehran on August 22, 2015. (Tasnim/Mohammad-Ali Marizad)

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