MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th January, 2021) A Taliban delegation arrived in the Iranian capital on Tuesday, meetings with Iran's special representative on Afghanistan, as well as Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif are expected, according to Iran's foreign ministry.
"This delegation arrived in Tehran this morning under a preliminary agreement and invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran," the ministry's spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said, as quoted on the official ministerial Telegram channel.
According to Khatibzadeh, the delegation, led by the head of the Taliban's political office, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, is expected to discuss the Afghan peace process and related issues with Iran's special envoy for Afghanistan and foreign minister Zarif.
Last week, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev held a telephone conversation with his Iranian counterpart, Ali Shamkhani, discussing the Afghan peace process.
The Afghan government and the Taliban launched peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha, in September. That month, Zarif expressed support for dialogue between the conflicting sides and said that the future of Afghanistan should be determined without external intervention.
In early December, Kabul and the Taliban took a three-week break in their talks for consultations on a negotiation framework. The sides resumed negotiations on substantive issues on January 6 in Doha.
On February 29, the United States and the Taliban movement signed a peace deal in Doha, Qatar, stipulating a gradual withdrawal of US troops as well as the beginning of intra-Afghan negotiations and prisoner exchanges. The talks were delayed multiple times until the Afghan government and the Taliban managed to agree on the prisoner exchange process.
