Speaking today at a meeting of "Developments in Afghanistan: A Look at Structures", in the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, Rasoul Mousavi said Iran's position is not to attend a meeting where the representatives of the people and government of Afghanistan are not participating in it. This has been interpreted in some places that Iran is not involved in the peace process, which is wrong.
A four-party meeting was held in Moscow last week with the participation of Russia, Pakistan, the United States, and China and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Iran should be added to the delegation. Prior to this meeting, a meeting was held in Beijing. The Russians had told us then that Iran would participate, but Iran had said it would not.
The diplomat went on to say that even the Russians thought Iran was participating in the last minute, but Iran didn't. Iran believes not take part in a process without the presence of a representative of the Afghan people - crystallized within the government. Another argument is that Iran is attending a summit that Russia and China are inviting, but let's be clear. In fact, there are two points of view now; one is not to attend any meetings or to participate in some of the meetings that Russia and China have invited, and to express our views.
Referring to the US-Taliban peace talks, Mousavi said that the form of Khalilzad's talks that he has now begun is different from the form of talks he had previously held and stopped after Trump's tweet. He went to Brussels last week and released a 17-article statement that is a Western manifesto on Afghanistan. Khalilzad then went to Moscow to attend a quartet meeting, where the statement was somehow confirmed.
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