On his first official visit to Iran, the Taliban government’s acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi arrived in Tehran Jan. 9 for talks with his counterpart Hossein Amir-Abdollahian. Having held a preliminary meeting with Iranian officials in Kabul, the high-level Taliban delegation had already finalized the agenda.

According to a tweet by the Taliban foreign ministry spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi, the delegation’s visit focused on “political, economic, transit and refugee issues between Afghanistan and Iran.” However, it was the officials’ negotiations with key Afghan resistance leaders in Iran that became the main headline of the visit.

Accompanied by senior delegates, Muttaqi met with Ahmed Massoud, who heads the National Resistance Front and is son of the late Afghan commander Ahmed Shah Massoud, and Ismail Khan, a former Afghan minister and provincial governor.

Confirming the talks in televised remarks, the Taliban foreign minister seemed hopeful, saying, “We assured all of them that they can come back to live freely and safely.” Yet the situation remains tense in Afghanistan, with two violent attacks taking place in Nangarhar and Kabul as the talks were underway. The threats to the Taliban government persist from both Islamic State operatives and former members of the Afghan military.