TEHRAN — Mohammad Ebrahim Taherianfard, the special envoy of Iran’s foreign minister for Afghanistan, on Sunday exchanged views with senior Afghan officials about the campaign against the deadly coronavirus and bilateral issues.

Afghanistan has reported just under 1,000 cases of the virus. But those numbers certainly underestimate the spread, officials say, since testing has been extremely limited. The country has conducted only about 7,000 tests. According to the New York Times, at least 40 staff members in Afghanistan’s presidential palace have tested positive for COVID-19, Afghan officials said on Sunday.

Taherianfard met separately with President Ashraf Ghani, National Security Adviser Hamdollah Moheb and supervisor of Foreign Ministry Mohammad Hanif Atmar.

During the meetings, he touched upon bilateral relations and approaches applied by the two nations to battle coronavirus, Fars reported on Monday.

In relevant remarks on April 12, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stressed the importance of unity among different Afghan parties for the promotion of peace and stability in the country.

Zarif made the remarks in a phone talk with Hanif Atmar. The two sides discussed bilateral ties and cooperation.

Earlier, he had phone conversations with incumbent President Ghani and incumbent Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

During the phone conversations, Zarif stressed the important status of political structures based on the constitution of the country with respect to peace and national reconciliation, saying that “Iran supports peace process in Afghanistan with the participation of all Afghan political groups.”

Iran’s top diplomat also reviewed disputes which followed the recent presidential elections in Afghanistan.

The two sides also discussed peace and intra-Afghan negotiations as well as mutual cooperation on combating coronavirus. 

Ghani and Abdullah also appreciated Iran’s supports and its readiness for helping resolve Afghanistan’s political problems.

MH/PA