Taliban Refuses U.N. Offer for Talks on Iran Crisis
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban militia on Friday rejected an invitation from a U.N. envoy to negotiate an end to its border standoff with neighboring Iran.
U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi issued the offer in neighboring Pakistan in an attempt to ease tensions created by a massive troop deployment along the border that separates Iran and Afghanistan.
Iran has marshaled a force that it claims numbers 270,000 soldiers and Revolutionary Guards along its border, while the Taliban has deployed about 10,000 troops. There were reports of border skirmishes Thursday, adding a fresh sense of urgency for a settlement, Brahimi said.
Two Afghan civilians were killed and five wounded in an Iranian attack Thursday, the Taliban-controlled Voice of Shariat radio said Friday.
The standoff began after Iran accused the Taliban in the deaths of eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist in August. Iran demanded an apology. The Taliban refused.
Brahimi asked the Taliban to send a representative to Pakistan for talks, saying the United Nations has forbidden all its international staff from traveling to Afghanistan because of safety concerns. But the Taliban refused.
Brahimi “should come to Afghanistan,” said Abdul Hai Mutmean, a Taliban army spokesman.
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