Afghan Official Hails Tehran-Kabul Friendly Ties

Kabul, Sept 30, IRNA – Afghan Foreign Ministry spokesman Janan Mosazai on Sunday hailed friendly and brotherly ties between Tehran and Kabul. Speaking in his weekly press conference, Mosazai explained the recent meeting between the Iranian and Afghan foreign ministers on the sidelines of the 68th UN General Assembly Summit in New York as fruitful. In the meeting, the two foreign ministers stressed the need to further promote bilateral ties in all areas, Mosazai said. Iranian and Afghan top-ranking officials have exchanged visits in the last 12 years, during which a lot of deals have been signed in political, cultural and economic fields. Improvement of ties between Iran and the West including the United States benefits peace and stability in the region, he said, adding Afghanistan welcomes Iran-US rapprochement and the phone call between the Iranian and US presidents and the meeting of the Iranian and US foreign ministers. On President Hamid Karzai’s visit to China, he said that during his visit, the Afghan president discussed reviving the ancient Silk Road. Revival of the Silk Road will help Afghanistan find its real status in the region, the Afghan spokesman said, adding that construction of Nimruz and Herat roads to Iran as well as Iran-Afghanistan railway and Turkmen-Tajikistan railway linking to Afghanistan are efforts to reach the goal. The Silk Road is a series of trade and cultural transit roads that were central to cultural interaction through regions of the Asian continent connecting West and East by linking traders, merchants, pilgrims, monks, soldiers, nomads and urban dwellers from China to the Mediterranean Sea during various periods of time./end