Voice of America
Afghanistan’s Taliban confirmed Monday their senior delegates met in neighboring Iran with self-exiled key Afghan opposition leaders to urge them to end resistance to the Islamist group’s nascent rule and assure them of security if they return home.
Taliban Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi led his team in the meeting with Ahmad Massoud, who heads what is known as the National Resistance Front (NRF), and Ismail Khan, a former Afghan minister and provincial governor.
Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi, while sharing details of the first known direct interaction between the rival sides in Tehran, said that Muttaqi renewed Taliban assurances that it is striving to ensure a “secure future” for all Afghans to leave “no reason for any resistance.”
Muttaqi himself confirmed the meeting in video remarks Taliban officials later released at the conclusion of his two-day bilateral meetings with Iranian officials.
