Iran voices readiness to broker Afghanistan-Pakistan peace talks
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday Tehran is ready to facilitate dialogue between Iran’s eastern neighbors, Afghanistan and Pakistan, as the two countries are engaged in a new conflict described by Islamabad as an “open war.”
“In the blessed month of Ramadan, a month of self-restraint and strengthening solidarity in the Islamic World, it’s fitting for Afghanistan and Pakistan to manage and resolve their existing differences within the framework of good neighborliness and through dialogue,” Araghchi said in a post on X on Friday.
This comes as Pakistan’s Defense Minister Khawaja Asif declared the neighbors are at “open war” following months of tension.
Asif said in an X post that Pakistan had hoped for peace in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of NATO forces in 2021 and expected the Taliban, which seized power in the country, to focus on the welfare of the Afghan people and regional stability.
Instead, he said that the Taliban had turned Afghanistan “into a colony of India,” with which Pakistan has periodically engaged in wars, clashes and skirmishes since gaining independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Pakistan bombed major cities in Afghanistan, including the capital Kabul, on Friday, after Afghan forces had attacked Pakistani border troops on Thursday night.