Abdullah heads to Iran to discuss Afghan peace process

Chairman of Afghanistan’s High Council for National Reconciliation Abdullah Abdullah left Kabul early Sunday for Tehran where he will meet with high-ranking officials to discuss the Afghan peace process. 

Abdullah’s visit to Iran comes on the heels of his recent trips to Pakistan and India in his quest to garner support for peace. 

In a tweet on Sunday, Abdullah said he will meet and exchange views on the Afghan peace process, intra-Afghan talks, regional support and bilateral issues. 

He also confirmed he will meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and other senior officials. 

Abdullah’s visit comes just days after the United States’ peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad said during a webinar that in terms of Afghanistan’s peace process, “there are two Irans; the foreign ministry Iran which says positive things and makes statements that could be construed as supporting the peace process,” but then there is the other Iran that would like to “keep the US entangled in a war.”Iran “appears to want the war to go on rather than for the peace process to succeed,” he said adding that “we would like Iran … to participate in the regional efforts in support of peace.”