Report: Afghanistan's Taliban sends delegation to Iran

[Insight]

Report: Afghanistan's Taliban sends delegation to Iran







TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — A delegation from Afghanistan's Taliban has arrived in Iran to discuss the situation of Afghan migrants and issues in the Islamic world, Iran's semi-official Tasnim news agency reported Tuesday.
The report said the delegation arrived in Iran on Monday and was headed by Muhammad Tayyab Agha, who is in charge of the Taliban's political bureau in Qatar. It says the delegation met Iranian security officials and that similar delegations have visited Iran twice in the past.
It was not immediately clear why Iranian officials would hold talks with the Taliban.
The Taliban espouse a radical version of Sunni Islam that considers Shiites apostates, and when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s they nearly went to war with Shiite-majority Iran.
Iran supported the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power, but Tehran is opposed to the continued presence of U.S. and NATO forces in its eastern neighbor.

http://news.yahoo.com/report-afghanistans-taliban-sends-delegation-iran-113931293.html

[Insight]

Afghan Taliban Delegation Visits Iran to Discuss Regional Issues


By Mushtaq Yusufzai and Fazul Rahim A high-ranking delegation from the Afghan Taliban has visited Iran to discuss regional issues, according to officials.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid called the recent visit "ordinary," saying in a statement that Muhammad Tayyab Agha — head of the group's Qatar-based political office — led the delegation. It was not the Taliban's first visit to Iran, he added.



When asked about the visit at a weekly press conference on Wednesday, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman said she had no information about the meetings but was not denying they took place.
Two senior members of the Afghan Taliban political office in Qatar confirmed to NBC News that the delegation met with high-ranking members of Iran's civilian and military leadership to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and the broader region.
"It was very fruitful visit and Iran assured us of their full support and cooperation in resolving the issues in the region," one of the Taliban leaders in Qatar told NBC News. Another Taliban official said it wasn't the first time one of their delegations had visited Iran.
The trip marks a curious development for two sides with drastically opposing ideology. Iran is the regional Shiite powerhouse while the Taliban ascribe to a radical version of Sunni Islam.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/afghan-taliban-delegation-visits-iran-discuss-regional-issues-n361876

[marwat]

why is tehran FO rejecting this

[Insight]

why is tehran FO rejecting this

The first report detailing the Taliban delegations visit to Iran was first released by Tasnim News Agency which is the media arm of the IRGC, not the Iranian government. The IRGC does not fall under control of the Iranian government.

Iran-Taliban contacts actually go back quite far at the outset of the current conflict,and became more apparent as the conflict dragged on.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12694266

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/18/world/middleeast/18military.html?_r=0

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/spy-talk/2010/08/intelligence_report_iranian_an.html

[Insight]

This is a critical development, and it is curious why all those who state the Afghan insrugency is controlled by Pakistan, have refused to comment on this now and in the past.

When the US and Taliban began talks in 2013, one of the reasons cited by a US official was when US troops came across a large cache of heavy weapons which were shipped from Iran to the insurgency. The US offical said that Pakistani support for the Taliban could be monitored due to heavy US presense in Pakistan, and fact that US could pressure Pakistan, but same relationship was non-existent with Iran, and hence, the reason why they decided to begin talks.

I think this is part of the reason Obama decided on a full US withdrawal because Iran had been documented in supplying anti aircraft missiles as early as 2007 (confirmed by Wikileaks).

This is a fact that needs to be considered whenever discussing the conflict in Afghanistan and the insurgency, and can not be ignored for some other perception of Iran's strategic interests that is not accurate.