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Aid to Taliban in Afghanistan Denied

Aid to Taliban in Afghanistan Denied
Aid to Taliban in Afghanistan Denied

Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan has denied charges that it has been helping a Taliban push in an Afghan province bordering Iran. “Any instability in Farah province will lead to the deployment of foreign troops in Farah Province, which is not in the interest of Iran,” Hamid Reza Bahrami said, Mehr News Agency reported. Bahrami made the remarks in an interview with Afghanistan ‘Tolo News’ TV channel on Sunday evening. Taliban fighters with heavy weapons and night-vision equipment fought their way close to the center of the western city of Farah last week. Any kind of instability in Farah Province also means migration from this province to Iran’s border provinces, which Iran does not want, Bahrami said. He recalled that almost one-third of Iran-Afghan trade passes through Farah Province and any instability would harm the people on both sides of the border. Commenting on Iran’s alleged relations with the Taliban and the group attacking Farah in coordination with Iran, Bahrami said “the Taliban has attacked many parts of the country not only Farah. Does that mean it  has been coordinating all the attacks with Iran?” The ambassador went on to say that “we have explicitly stated that we have contacts with the Taliban and have not transformed the contacts into relations because we do not want to legitimize the Taliban. We explicitly stated that the purpose of the contacts is to encourage them to join the peace process with the Afghan government.” Bahrami added that all countries in the region are in contact with the rebel group. “Insecurity on the common border has been hurting our country and this obviously is not what Iran wants.”

 

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