TEHRAN — Iran's Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian stressed regional cooperation in restoring peace to Afghanistan, as he met in Uzbekistan with counterparts from China, Russia and Pakistan for the latest security situation under the Taliban.

During the four-way meeting with China's Qin Gang, Russia's Sergey Lavrov and Pakistan's Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday, Amir-Abdollahian said that what Afghanistan needs is "regional solutions rather than Western interference," according to a report published by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The meeting was held on the sidelines of an international summit in the Uzbek city of Samarkand. The previous summits of this sort were hosted by Pakistan in 2021 and Iran and China in 2022.

The main participants in the Samarkand summit — China, Russia, Pakistan and Iran — have been jostling in a covert rivalry for influence in the new Afghanistan, including leverage in the geopolitical calculations in Kabul. The four neighboring countries of Afghanistan see an opportunity to increase their influence following the 2021 US withdrawal from the country it had invaded in 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.