TEHRAN – Iran’s embassy in Kabul has issued a statement reiterating support for peace talks in Afghanistan led by the Afghan leaders.

The statement came as a response to a claim made by Zalmay Khalilzad, the United States’ chief negotiator with the Afghan Taliban, about Iran’s lack of support for a U.S.-led attempt to get the Taliban militant group and the Afghan government to negotiate.

The Iranian embassy in Kabul advised the U.S. officials to study Iran’s position on Afghanistan precisely before making claims.

Also, Mohammad Ebrahim Taherianfard, the special envoy of Iran’s foreign minister for Afghanistan, on Sunday said, “Iran highlights the necessity of establishing peace based on inter-Afghan talks led by the Afghan leaders.”

Taherianfard also said, “We advise American officials that before making remarks about the views of the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran about the issues in Afghanistan and the region first study these positions carefully.”
  
According to Press TV, Khalilzad claimed, “Iran has not been as supportive as it should be in the effort to get to intra-Afghan negotiations and an Afghan settlement largely due to our (the U.S.’s) relations with them.”

Late in February, the U.S. and Taliban negotiators signed an agreement in Qatar that was supposed to end 19 years of war in Afghanistan and allow President Donald Trump to begin the promised withdrawal of American troops.

The deal imposes obligations on the Afghan government, however, negotiations that led to the agreement did not involve the Afghan government’s representatives. 

The four-page pact spells out a timetable for the United States to withdraw its 13,000 troops from Afghanistan; in exchange, the Taliban agreed to sever its ties with al-Qaeda, the terrorist group that launched the 9/11 attacks against the U.S.

The agreement was supposed to set the stage for further negotiations between Afghanistan's government and the Taliban, a militant group that once ruled Afghanistan.

Iran has opposed the U.S. military occupation of Afghanistan and has expressed readiness to cooperate with any effort for intra-Afghan dialog.

NA/PA