Zia Ahmad Takal, the head of information and public relations for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, stated that the group will not participate in the Tehran meeting on Afghanistan.
Speaking to RTA television, he said that the group had been invited to participate in the aforementioned regional meeting but will not attend due to undisclosed reasons.
Takal stated that the Taliban prefers to continue engagement and cooperation with the region within the framework of existing mechanisms.
Tehran is scheduled to host a meeting this week with the Special Representatives for Afghanistan from Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, China, and Russia.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry had previously stated that the meeting was the result of consultations with regional countries. Iran had also not commented previously on the possibility of the Taliban’s presence at the meeting.
Although the agenda for the Tehran meeting has not yet been made public, most of the invited countries appear to share a common concern regarding the issue of terrorism in Afghanistan.
Pakistan claims that approximately 1,200 of its citizens have been victims of terrorism originating from Afghanistan in the past year. China also lost five of its citizens in attacks from Afghan soil on Tajikistan in recent weeks. Russia has repeatedly warned about the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan.
