Iran to push for inclusive Afghan government at Tehran conference
The Iranian government is concerned for the Shiite Muslim and Persian-speaking communities in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Iran will host Afghanistan’s neighbors for a conference on Wednesday.
The foreign ministers of Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan will attend the meeting in the capital Tehran. China’s foreign minister will attend virtually. Iran also invited Russia to participate in the conference, despite the country not having a border with Afghanistan, and the Russians will likewise attend virtually. Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will deliver the opening remarks, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.
The conference will focus on forming an “inclusive government” in the country that “should reflect the demographic and ethnic composition of Afghanistan,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Saeed Khatibzadeh said today.
Khatibzadeh’s remarks refer to the ethnic, religious and linguistic diversity in Afghanistan. The Islamic Republic supports the Fatemiyoun Brigade, which is composed of refugees from Afghanistan’s minority Hazara Shiite community and fights in Syria. The Iranian leadership is concerned that Hazaras as well as Tajiks, who share the use of the Persian language with Iranians, are not well represented in the ethnic Pashtun-dominated Taliban government.
