Iran denies report on possible ties with Taliban

TEHRAN (NNI): Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi on Wednesday denied a newspaper report that Iran may resume diplomatic relations with Afghanistan which is under the rule of the Taliban militia.

Asefi said the issue of the establishment of relations with the Taliban group is not included in the agenda of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported. The conservative daily Tehran Times reported on Wednesday that Iran has its terms and conditions for resumption of ties with Afghanistan.

"First, there should be a broad-based government in Kabul with the participation of all ethnic and religious communities," an official from the Iranian Foreign Ministry told the daily, speaking on condition of anonymity. Cross-border trade between the two countries was resumed after Iran reopened its borders with Afghanistan last November following the United Nations sanctions on the Taliban.

"We opened border with Afghanistan on humanitarian grounds and we are ready to do more for the oppressed people of our neighbors," the official said, also calling for punishment of those responsible for killing Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998.

Taliban militiamen stormed the Iranian consulate general in Mazari Sharif, a stronghold of anti-Taliban United Front, killing eight Iranian diplomats and one IRNA reporter inside the building when the Taliban took over the city in late 1998.

Iran has repeatedly demanded that the Taliban identify and punish the killers and offer an official apology to Iran.

In recent months, the Taliban, which controls most of Afghanistan but was not recognized by the international community, has announced readiness to talk with Iran to remove any "misunderstandings" for a rapprochement.

Taliban's Foreign Minister Wakil Ahmed Motawakil sent a letter last month to his Iranian counterpart Kamal Kharrazi, voicing his regime's willingness to establish ties with Tehran. Taliban's Information Minister Qudratullah Jamal on Tuesday once again expressed the wish. "The Iranians can reopen their embassy in Kabul according to diplomatic principles," he said.

Iran have supported the United Front, formed by the deposed Afghan government of President Burhanuddin Rabbani, after it was driven out of the Afghan capital Kabul in 1996. The Iranian Foreign Ministry announced recently to dispatch a delegation to Kabul to check its embassy building and other affairs.