Since Amir Khan Muttaqi, Taliban’s Minister of Foreign Affairs has sarcastically told Iran that the number of executions in that country is more than the number of prisoners inside Afghanistan, the representative of Iran has increased meetings with the Taliban officials aimed at keeping the ties normal.
Hassan Kazemi Qomi, Iran’s ambassador in Kabul, in a meeting with Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs of Taliban said that such statements should not harm the relations between the two sides. Recently, the Taliban and Iranian officials have openly criticized each other, and also, they had issues over water, triggering border clashes between the security forces of the two neighbors. Iran, which played a key role in the Taliban’s rise again to power, did not foresee facing such a situation.
This shows that the policy of being kind to the Taliban is not working and has harmed Iran’s position as an important actor in regional affairs. But Iran has no other way out and needs Taliban support for the long-term due to the continuation of several political issues with its other neighboring countries and in the Middle East. Iran’s interaction with the Taliban is much stronger than the past government which was recognized by the international community.
The Taliban took power on 15 August 2021 following the chaotic withdrawal of US troops resulting in the collapse of the republic system.
Iran put weight behind the Taliban
At that time, Hassan Rouhani, the former president of Iran, during his meeting with the then Afghan president Hamid Karzai, openly spoke about occupation without respecting the honor of the host and neighborliness.
However, the situation is completely different today. Iran is fully on the side of Taliban, in spite of countless aid, Iran also handed over the Afghan embassy in Tehran to the Taliban and gave them Euro packages, still the country doesn’t want to see its ties broken or harm with the Taliban.
Muttaqi in a meeting with religious scholars in Kabul questioned the inclusivity of the government in Iran. “Do you have an inclusive government in your country,” Muttaqi responded to Iran’s demand for formation of an inclusive government in Afghanistan.
“Do you give your citizens’ their rights? There are not as many prisoners in our prisons as you execute. Thousands of people have disappeared in your country and no one can dare to ask where they are,” Muttaqi told Iran.
Immediately after this statement, ambassador Qomi, went to meet senior Taliban officials. In the past days, he met with Baradar and Muttaqi and asked them to soften their media statements towards Iran and expressed concern about the damage to the relations between the two sides.
Iran’s supreme called Taliban “reality” in Afghanistan
At least in the last one decade, the relations between Iran and the Taliban have been very close and extensive. It has been reported that Tehran had officially invited the Taliban to celebrate the anniversary of the “Islamic Revolution” even before the Taliban took over Afghanistan.
Two years ago, when the Taliban returned to power, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei publicly welcomed the Taliban’s presence in Afghanistan. Although he did not directly name the Taliban, however, he welcomed it by referring to the “new reality” in Afghanistan, which is under the rule of the Taliban.
In addition to that, Iran kept its embassy in Kabul active after the return of the Taliban to power and has since supported the Taliban in important regional and international meetings. It seems that Iran has supported the Taliban during its war against the common enemy (US) and doesn’t want anything to spoil this relationship. This is another reason for Iran that is exercising immense caution in any issue related to the Taliban.
The enemy of my enemy is my friend
On the other hand, Iran and the Taliban have mutual and extensive interests in relation to al-Qaeda and the presence of this group in Afghanistan.
It has a great proverb that says that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” So now somehow the US is up to al-Qaeda and recently US drones killed the group’s leader in downtown Kabul. However, the Taliban rejected the news and said an investigation is underway and blamed the US for violating the airspace of Afghanistan.
The Taliban so far did not confirm the man killed was al-Qaeda’s leader. Despite the disappointment and failure of the Taliban to keep good ties with Iran, politics in Tehran define this country’s relationship with the Taliban and al-Qaeda as a tactic to reduce the risk of other terrorist groups against Iran.
On the other hand, these three sides have a common goal towards the US. Iran expects to increase threats against the US by helping al-Qaeda and Taliban and meanwhile, Tehran tries to reduce Islamic State (IS) threats against its security, because al-Qaeda in Syria and Iraq has also cooperated with Iran’s overseas forces against IS.
Islamic State is a serious threat in region
Now that IS is a serious threat in the region, especially for Iran, the security and intelligence centers of the IRGC will do their best to fight against this group outside the borders of Iran.
At the moment, Tehran thinks that by having good ties with the Taliban, it can stop the threats of IS, and al-Qaeda has created a common denominator and a common language for the larger goals of uniting opposing Islamic ideologies against the US.
Enmity with US and IS will force Iran to pay more attention in its ties with the Taliban for a long time and will buy all the taunts of the Taliban with its heart and soul until the creation of an alternative structure in Afghanistan.
On the other side, the Taliban, with the illusion of victory and fearing Iran from expanding its relations with US and IS, get more concessions from Tehran and force this country not to support the military opponents of the Taliban in Afghanistan and reject the armed resistance against this group.
Last year, Qomi considered the resistance against the Taliban to be an US project. He said that America is “organizing a group under the title of Resistance Front, which is a lie”. He even denied the existence of resistance against the Taliban.
