Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif comes under fire in Afghanistan
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KABUL - Iranian foreign minister Javed Zarif has come under fire in Afghanistan over Taliban comments.
President Ashraf Ghani’s deputy spokesman Shahhussain Murtazavi in a Facebook post has said that Iranian foreign ministry officials have turned into Taliban spokesmen.
In an interview with India’s NDTV on Wednesday Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said it is impossible to have a future Afghan government without a role for the Taliban. However, he said the group should not have a dominant role in a future Afghan government – which will be formed after a possible peace deal between Kabul government and the militant group.
“I think it would be impossible to have a future Afghanistan without any role for the Taliban. But we also believe that the Taliban do not have, should not have, a dominant role in Afghanistan. Of course, at the end of the day that is a decision the Afghans need to make,” Zarif said.
Murtazavi said that Iran favors the ideology of Mullah Omar, the late founder of Taliban group and said that Iran strongly fears a democratic Afghanistan.