Afghanistan was the main focus of the second Regional Security Dialogue, held Dec. 18 in Tehran and attended by national security officials from Russia, China, India, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

Many issues in Afghanistan pose threats to the entire region and therefore are of common concern to all the participating countries, including drug and arms trafficking, illegal immigration, extremism, political and sectarian tensions, terrorism and the presence of foreign forces — especially those of the United States.

The meeting was called to coordinate and strengthen regional cooperation and define a collective mechanism to deal with those threats. Two issues in particular stood out: terrorism and the US presence in Afghanistan, which Tehran and some participants believe are closely linked.

The first session of the Regional Security Dialogue was held in September 2018 in Tehran, aiming to increase coordination among regional countries to stand against terrorism. What compelled Iran to focus again on Afghanistan and terrorism in the second session is the possible US agreement with the Taliban, potential withdrawal or reduction of US forces in Afghanistan, and the alleged transfer of Islamic State (IS) forces from Iraq and Syria to Afghanistan, all of which could exacerbate emerging threats from Afghanistan and fuel further instability and threats to Iran and the region.