Iran says opposes US-Taliban talks

Iran's top security official said Wednesday the Islamic Republic opposed US negotiations with Afghanistan's Taliban, as the talks excluded the Afghan people and government. "Any strategy, any decision or plan without the participation of the Afghan people is wrong and doomed to failure," said Rear Admiral Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council.

"The Taliban are a reality of the Afghan people that cannot be ignored. But are all Afghans Taliban? No," he added. Shamkhani was speaking at a news conference following a meeting in Tehran of senior national security officials from Afghanistan, China, India, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Russia.

He accused the US of trying to use the situation in Afghanistan to "create insecurity on the borders of China, Russia and Iran" and said the "dialogue on regional security" was proof of Washington's failure to isolate the Islamic Republic.

Shamkhani noted that Tehran did not participate in the US-led negotiations due to having once cooperated with Washington on Afghanistan and having been "put in the Axis of Evil".