Iran, which borders both Pakistan and Afghanistan, today offered its help to “facilitate dialogue” amid the military standoff between them.
Islamabad today declared “open war” on the Taliban authorities, after the Afghan attack, yesterday, on the Pakistani border. Kabul says it was in response to Pakistani shelling of the area last weekend.
The Pakistani army bombed Kabul and Kandahar at night.
Iran “is ready to provide all necessary assistance to facilitate dialogue and strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation between the two countries,” Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on Platform X.
In its statement this evening, the foreign ministry urged both countries “to respect each other’s territorial integrity and national sovereignty and to avoid actions that could exacerbate tensions and conflict.”
Iran maintains close ties with Pakistan, but its relations with Afghanistan have been complicated since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021. In recent months, however, it has been cooperating more with the authorities in Kabul, mainly on immigration issues, after asking millions of Afghans living there illegally to leave the country.
In October, in the previously deadly clashes between Pakistan and Afghanistan, Tehran again offered to mediate.
Many rounds of negotiations under the auspices of Turkey and Qatar have failed to lead the two countries to peace.
