Iran has supported India's opposition to the idea of "good" and "bad" Taliban, dismissing recent western overtures to the Taliban at last month's conference on Afghanistan held in London.
"Our experience is not to believe in the 'good-and-bad' Taliban theory. Taliban is Taliban. Extremists should not be part of any government in Kabul," Iranian ambssador to India Seyed Mehdi Nabizadeh said in New Delhi on the occasion of the 31st anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution.
He added the Hamid Karzai government in Afghanistan should be run with the support of the people, and neighboring countries were duty-bound to help it bring about peace there.
Advocating a regional approach involving India to address the Afghan issue, he said Tehran, like New Delhi, had a lot at stake in Afghanistan. But unlike Pakistan, it had no sympathy for the Taliban.
The Iranian envoy cautioned that the return of the Taliban would further deteriorate regional security.
Ahead of the January 28 London Conference on Afghanistan, India's External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna voiced New Delhi's opposition to the idea of "good" and "bad" Taliban. But the meet rejected India's argument.
U.S.-led efforts to broker talks between the Karzai government and the Taliban have alarmed India as it fears that the return of the Taliban (with the backing of Pakistan's ISI) will jeopardize its interests in that land-locked country.
Nabizadeh also pointed out none of the three aims for the 2001 U.S.-led military invasion of Afghanistan--stopping the trafficking of narcotics, fighting the Taliban and terrorism, besides establishing security in the region--was achieved.
He said the production of narcotics increased, Islamic fundamentalism spread to other countrie, and the security of neighboring countries was being threatened.
India Must Decide Soon
On the Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, Nabizadeh said New Delhi must join the project soon, while observing that discussions on the pipeline were continuing for 15 years and there should be "some limit" to the time being taken to decide.
"The doors are open to India to join. We can't wait indefinitely. There should be some limit. We hope it will be decided in the future," Nabizadeh said, adding Iran's negotiations with Pakistan were reaching the implementation stage.
On the expiry of the one-month time-limit for India to join the project, he said Iran was keeping alive the negotiations on IPI and that a team from the Indian Oil Ministry was in Tehran recently.
India stopped attending trilateral meetings after the last one in 2007 with its demand for an Iranian guarantee for uninterrupted supply of gas via Pakistan and a stable pricing mechanism was not yet met.
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December 19, 2025 15:10 ET U.S. inflation data and interest rate decisions by major central banks were the highlights of this busy week for economics news flow. Employment data and survey results on the housing markets also gained attention in the U.S. In Europe, the European Central Bank and Bank of England announced their policy decisions and macroeconomic projections.