Afghanistan's Taliban confirmed on Monday that it sent a delegation to Iran for three days of talks, signaling that Tehran could be seeking the role of regional mediator in negotiations to end its neighbor's 12-year war.
Spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said that emissaries from the Taliban's political office met with Iranian officials over the weekend and a separate group of Taliban clerics attended a religious conference in Tehran. An Iranian news agency said on Saturday that Tehran hosted a Taliban delegation an unprecedented development, since the Sunni Muslim Taliban have long been enemies of Iran's ruling Shiite clerics.
Ahmadi said the Taliban's political wing would accept any invitation for conferences, a possible good sign for so-far fruitless efforts to negotiate an end to the Afghan war.