WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th August, 2020) Afghanistan can have a good economic relationship with Iran despite sanctions, President Ashraf Ghani said during a video conference hosted by a US think tank on Thursday.
"Afghanistan and Iran can have a very substantial... economic relationship," Ghani said at the Council of Foreign Relations virtual event. "The regime of sanctions usually results in driving economic relations underground."
Ghani said Iran has strongly advocated for a political solution to the conflict in Afghanistan.
US officials have repeatedly accused Iran of meddling in Afghan affairs, without providing evidence - allegations Tehran has denied.
The Afghan government and the Taliban movement will launch peace talks on August 16, Afghanistan's national television RTA reported on Monday.
The launch of the intra-Afghan talks was conditional upon a mutual release of prisoners and reduction of violence by the Taliban under a peace agreement negotiated by the United States in Doha, Qatar, on February 29.
