Rasoul Mousavi, former Director General for South Asia at Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has called the recent visit of a US delegation to Afghanistan a turning point in the Taliban’s foreign relations.
Writing on X, Mousavi revealed that, according to available information, the US delegation first travelled to Kandahar before continuing on to Kabul for further meetings. He warned that regional intelligence and political institutions appeared to be in a state of “strategic negligence,” similar to their inaction during the collapse of the Afghan republic in 2021.
The delegation included Zalmay Khalilzad, former US Special Representative for Afghanistan, and Adam Boehler, Donald Trump’s Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs. During their visit, they met with the Taliban’s acting Foreign Minister, Amir Khan Muttaqi.
This marked the first official US visit to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan since American forces withdrew from the country in August 2021.
Following the high-level meetings, the Taliban released George Glezmann, a US citizen who had been detained for two years. Khalilzad later stated that Glezmann’s release was offered by the Taliban as a “gesture of goodwill” toward former US President Donald Trump and the American people.
