TEHRAN – Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi on Wednesday voiced Tehran’s determination to restore sustainable stability to Afghanistan.

The remarks by the Foreign Ministry official comes as Ashraf Ghani and his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, took the oath of office as the president of Afghanistan on Monday, plunging the fragile country into a new crisis.  

"The only way towards prosperity, stability and security in Afghanistan is forming a comprehensive unity government which includes all Afghan elites and political figures and groups," Mousavi told a regular news briefing.

He underscored that Tehran’s policy is to support for Afghan-Afghan talks. 

Recently, Taliban and the U.S. signed a peace agreement as Washington is seeking an exit route from Afghanistan after 19 years.  
 
According to the MNA on Tuesday, Taliban spokesman Sohail Shaheen pointed to Iran’s role in the Afghanistan peace process and noted, “Taliban holds talks with neighboring countries with regard to maintaining peace.”

Shaheen went on to say that ending the war against the Afghan government is dependent on the talks between Afghans and noted, “If the inter-Afghan negotiations begun, the future Islamic government and the end of the war would be discussed. But the talks must begin first.”

Referring to Iran’ role in establishing permanent peace in Afghanistan he emphasized, “It is a fact that we have political relations with the countries of the world and our neighbors, and we talk about peace with them, this is a necessity which is for the benefit of our country."

“Currently, a peace agreement has been signed with the U.S. and we are committed to implementing it,” the Taliban spokesman added.
MJ/PA