Iran not ready to recognize Taliban government
Shiite-dominated Iran has called for Afghanistan's new Sunni leaders to form a government that reflects the country's ethnic diversity.
Iran is not ready to formally recognize the Taliban government in Afghanistan, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said Monday, citing the importance of an inclusive Afghan government.
“Today, we are basically not at the point of recognizing,” Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a news conference. “We hope that the governing body of Afghanistan will move, through its actions, in a direction that will enable it to achieve international recognition.”
No country has offered official recognition to the Islamist group, which in September unveiled an all-male cabinet that includes a US-designated terrorist and is dominated by ethnic Pashtuns. But several countries including China, Turkey and Russia have held high-profile talks with Taliban leaders and kept their countries’ diplomatic facilities open in Afghanistan.
Iran shares a 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Afghanistan and hosts some 3.6 million Afghan refugees. Since the Taliban’s takeover in August, hundreds of thousands of Afghan civilians have escaped into neighboring Iran using informal border crossings.
