A senior official at the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry has criticised Iran’s portrayal of Afghanistan as a country in crisis, saying Taliban-ruled Afghanistan should no longer be treated as a crisis-management issue.
Zakir Jalali, head of the second political directorate at the Foreign Ministry, made the comments in response to a regional meeting of special envoys on Afghanistan held in Tehran. Writing on X on Sunday, Jalali said Afghanistan under Taliban control does not require crisis-management mechanisms.
He urged Iran and other regional countries to abandon what he described as a “security-oriented approach” towards Afghanistan and instead focus on expanding diplomatic relations, trade and economic cooperation.
In recent days, Iranian officials have expressed concern about the durability of stability in Afghanistan. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Sunday at the Tehran meeting that peace in Afghanistan would not be possible without cooperation from neighbouring countries.
Separately, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations, Amir Saeid Iravani, told a UN Security Council meeting on 10 December that forming an inclusive government representing the Afghan people was essential to prevent a renewed outbreak of war.
In his remarks, Jalali said Afghanistan before 2021 had been a “serious and alarming problem” for the region due to the military presence of dozens of foreign countries and the interference of regional and other actors.
He said that, given what he described as the Taliban administration’s “good intentions and economy-centred foreign policy,” Afghanistan could now become an effective bridge linking Central Asia with West and South Asia.
Taliban officials have repeatedly claimed they have full control over Afghanistan’s territory, that security has been fully restored and that the country is ready for trade and investment from regional and international partners.
At the Tehran meeting, Pakistan raised concerns about the threat of terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, an issue previously echoed by Russia and China.
Pakistan’s special envoy for Afghanistan, Mohammad Sadiq Khan, said the shared assessment of countries participating in the meeting was that terrorism originating from Afghanistan poses a major challenge to the region. He urged the Taliban to take concrete steps to eliminate what he described as terrorist groups from the country.
The regional meeting on Afghanistan began on Sunday in Tehran with representatives from Russia, Pakistan, China, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan in attendance. Despite being invited by Iran, the Taliban declined to participate.
Zia Ahmad Takal, deputy spokesperson for the Taliban’s Foreign Ministry, said the decision not to attend was based on the view that Afghanistan already maintains active relations with regional countries through existing organisations and cooperation frameworks and has made what he described as significant progress in this regard.
