Tehran held talks with Afghanistan’s Taliban – report

Iran has held talks with the Afghan Taliban, one of the country’s top security officials said, according to the Tasnim news agency. The Afghan government has been informed of the communications and talks carried out with the Taliban, and this process will continue, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, was quoted on Wednesday as saying. No details on where the talks took place were given. The news agency is considered close to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, AFP said. Shamkhani informed the Afghan authorities about the discussions during a visit to Kabul on Wednesday, according to the report. “The Islamic Republic has always been one of the primary pillars of stability in the region and cooperation between the two countries will certainly help in fixing Afghanistan’s security issues,” he said.