By Aamir Latif
KARACHI, Pakistan
Iran has backed Pakistani-mediated peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban.
During a visit to Islamabad on Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif said his country hoped for a “positive outcome” from the talks between the two sides, bringing an end to decades of conflict.
Addressing a press conference alongside Pakistani National Security Advisor Sartaj Aziz, Zarif also said Syria-based militant group Daesh was threat to the entire region, which needed a combined effort to challenge.
Aziz said they also spoke about economic and energy ties between the two neighboring countries.
“We agreed that enhancing bilateral collaboration in the energy sector was one of the major areas of mutually beneficial cooperation," Aziz said.
He also congratulated Iran on the settling of an international deal on Iran's nuclear power program and said he hoped the subsequent lifting of sanctions on Iran would allow for the completion of a gas pipeline between the two countries.
Zarif is scheduled to go to the Indian capital Delhi on Friday as he continues a South Asia tour.
Ties between Pakistan and Iran have been uneasy in the past decade with Iran accusing Pakistan of not preventing hardline Sunni groups from crossing the border to carry out militant attacks, many of them on border guards.
