Following the Taliban’s capture of two more cities in Afghanistan on Thursday night, Iran’s Assistant Foreign Minister for South Asian Affairs tweeted that the Taliban is an “Islamic Emirate” and said they were committed to maintaining the security of the Iranian consulate.
The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan refers to an Islamic state established by Taliban in September 1996, when they began their governance after capturing Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul.
Rasoul Mousavi, Iran’s assistant foreign minister for South Asia, said that ” Herat has come under the control of the Islamic Emirate [Taliban] forces.” I am in regular contact with them. “The [Taliban] governing forces are committed to the full security of the consulate, its diplomats and staff.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as Mohammad Javad Zarif, have hosted Taliban leaders in Tehran several times before, and Ahmad Naderi, a member of Iran’s Islamic Consultative Assembly, referred to the Taliban as a “noble movement”. “The Taliban is one of the few noble movements in the region with a pure Pashtun background, and working with them can lead to the spread of stability in Afghan society and the prevention of the influence of groups such as ISIS,” he said.
The Iranian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif is the same consulate where Taliban forces entered in August 23 years ago and killed eight diplomats of the Islamic Republic of Iran, as well as IRNA correspondent Mahmoud Saremi. However, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran did not even mention the name “Taliban” in its statement on the anniversary of the massacre at the Iranian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif this year.
Earlier, during the Taliban’s takeover of Nimroz province, a number of troops and several thousand people from Zaranj had sought refuge in Iran, but five days after their arrival, an Iranian newspaper reported that the Islamic Republic of Iran had repatriated all Afghan refugees.
According to the newspaper, after the fall of Zaranj city in Nimroz province, a group of Afghan government troops entered Iran through the border with military vehicles and equipment. Iran kept their equipment and vehicles and returned the refugees back to the Taliban against their will.
Source: Iran International
Also read: Iran fuming over British-Russian ambassadors restaged WWII image