MAZAR-I-SHARIF - Iran’s deputy foreign minister Jaber Ali Ansari has said Tehran fully supports the ongoing peace process in Afghanistan.
Addressing a gathering here, Ansari said the time had come to put the decades old conflict in Afghanistan to an end.
He said after Balkh province, he would travel to Kabul, Herat and other provinces to meet local officials.
He said Iran had been under pressure from the US since years but the tense relations would have no negative impact on the good Tehran-Kabul ties.
Ansari said efforts were on to facilitate and bring reforms in visa policy. He claimed some countries in the region wanted to harm relationship between Iran and Afghanistan but such moves would never be allowed.
He said victims of the conflict in Afghanistan were only Afghans.  He reaffirmed that Iran would stand with Afghanistan like a brotherly country in every situation.
Meanwhile, some experts believe Afghanistan should pursue a policy which protects its own interests in the region.
Shokour Najafzada, a civil society activist in Balkh, said the Afghan government should adopt policies which could protect its own interests in the region.
He said the Afghan government policy of regional connectivity was the best one and said no one should be allowed to use the Afghan territory against any other country. (Pajhwok)