The ceremony of foreign delegations offering condolences in Tehran on the death of Ali Khamenei, the former Iranian Supreme Leader, witnessed a development that sparked much controversy, represented by the simultaneous presence of a delegation from the Taliban government in Afghanistan, alongside a delegation of Afghan figures opposed to it.
In the first few minutes of the start of the condolence ceremony on Friday, July 3, the presence of an Afghan delegation representing the “National Resistance Front of Afghanistan,” headed by Ahmad Massoud, caught the attention of those present. This is the most prominent political-military group opposing the Taliban government and seeking to overthrow it.
Over the past five years, Tehran has not shown any public relationship with the Taliban's opponents, nor have Iranian officials made any statements about them.
Hours later, as the ceremony continued, the Taliban delegation, headed by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar Akhund, was seen in the hall. On the sidelines of the ceremony, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan met with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi was also part of the Taliban delegation and held a separate meeting with his Iranian counterpart, Abbas Araqchi.
The delegation of the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan participated in the morning session on Friday, which is the session allocated for unofficial and non-governmental delegations, while the Taliban government delegation participated in the afternoon, during the session allocated for official government delegations.
The simultaneous presence of delegations from the Taliban government and their Afghan opponents at a single official program in Tehran is unprecedented.
Last Friday marked the first time a delegation of Taliban opponents participated in an official event held in Tehran.
The manner in which the Taliban government delegation and the opposition delegation were introduced during the condolence ceremony for the former Iranian Supreme Leader also sparked widespread reactions.
The master of ceremonies introduced the Taliban delegation as the “Government of Afghanistan” delegation, avoiding the use of the official name “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,” while describing the opposition delegation as the “Supreme Delegation of the Resistance in Afghanistan.”
The Islamic Republic of Iran does not recognize the government of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, although it deals with it as the sole existing authority in the country, and it has handed over the Afghan embassy and consulate in Tehran and Mashhad to representatives of the Taliban government.
Since the Iranian government does not officially recognize the Taliban government, the flag of the Emirate was not raised in official programs or during meetings with Taliban officials, including the meeting between the Foreign Minister of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and Abbas Araqchi in Tehran, where only the flag of the Islamic Republic of Iran was raised.
However, as the Taliban government delegation entered and offered their condolences on the death of the former Iranian leader, the Quran reciter recited a verse that carried a very positive message, which is the first verse of Surah Al-Fath: “Indeed, We have granted you a clear victory.”
Afghan opposition delegation
Two key figures stood out in the Afghan opposition delegation: Ahmad Massoud, leader of the National Resistance Front in Afghanistan, and Mohammad Mohaqiq, one of the most prominent political leaders opposed to the Taliban.
Ahmad Massoud was the son of Ahmad Shah Massoud, the former Afghan defense minister and one of the most prominent leaders of the jihad against the Soviet army during the occupation of Afghanistan. During the first Taliban regime, Ahmad Shah Massoud was a leading figure in the war and military operations against the movement. He was killed two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks in a suicide bombing carried out by two individuals posing as journalists.
His son, Ahmad Massoud, 36, took over the leadership of the resistance against the Taliban after Kabul fell to the movement’s forces in 2021. He went to his father’s shrine in Panjshir province and announced the establishment of the “National Resistance Front of Afghanistan” to confront the Taliban government, and called on citizens to go to Panjshir and join the resistance against the movement.
At that time, Ahmed Massoud called on Western countries not to recognize the Taliban government, and urged them to provide military and logistical support to the “National Resistance Front”.
Ultimately, after the Taliban attacks on Panjshir and the fall of the province, Ahmad Massoud moved to Tajikistan andcurrently resides in the French capital, Paris, where he leads opposition activities against the Taliban government.
The National Resistance Front of Afghanistan is currently the most prominent and powerful political-military organization opposed to the Taliban regime, and it has close ties with other political and military organizations, including the Freedom Front of Afghanistan, an armed group opposed to the Taliban.
Forces belonging to the “National Resistance Front of Afghanistan” are still engaged in clashes with Taliban forces in a number of northern provinces of Afghanistan.
Also participating in the opposition delegation was Mohammad Mohaqiq, leader of the People's Unity Party and one of the most prominent political figures opposed to the Taliban. Before the fall of Kabul to the movement in 2011, during the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, he served as political and security advisor to the last Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani.
Mohaqiq is also considered one of the most prominent political leaders of the Hazara in Afghanistan. The majority of the Hazara population are Shia Muslims, which has contributed to close ties between them and Iran.
Afghan reactions
The presence of delegations from both the Taliban and its opponents at the condolence ceremony for Ali Khamenei sparked widespread controversy among social media users in Afghanistan. Taliban opponents welcomed their delegation's participation, while Taliban supporters criticized Tehran for inviting groups opposed to the movement alongside the Afghan government delegation.
The “Green Approach in Afghanistan” movement, led by Amrullah Saleh, the former Vice President of the Afghan Republic, expressed its gratitude to the Islamic Republic of Iran for inviting Ahmad Massoud and Mohammad Mohaqiq, saying: “By inviting two of the most prominent leaders of the anti-Taliban movement, Tehran symbolically conveyed a message to the Taliban that they are only a part of the multi-ethnic and diverse Afghan society, and cannot claim to represent the entire Afghan people or impose their hegemony on all its components.”
Some pro-Taliban social media users described the presence of opposition figures as an insult to the movement, and considered the invitation extended to Massoud and Mohaqiq as an indication of “duplicity” in Iran’s policy.
Officially, the Taliban's deputy economy minister, Abdul Latif Nazari, accused Iran of "playing both sides" by hosting the Taliban and its opponents at the same time.
Bilal Fatemi, a former member of the Islamic Party and a pro-Taliban analyst, called on Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar to leave Tehran in protest against this move, describing Tehran's actions as a "betrayal of the Taliban."
Some political groups and social media users saw Iran’s invitation to the Taliban and its opponents at the same time as an indication of a new policy that Tehran is pursuing towards Afghanistan.
In an article published in the Afghan newspaper “Hasht-e Sobh”, Shujauddin Amini wrote that the invitation extended to the Taliban and its opponents at the same time to Tehran reveals the dimensions of the Iranian-Afghan relationship. He said: “The relationship with the Taliban is based on the state level and official relations, while the political relationship with the Taliban’s opponents continues, along with the cultural and religious relationship with the Afghan people, as demonstrated by the invitation extended to Afghan citizens to participate in the funeral ceremonies of the former Iranian leader.”
This chapter demonstrates that the Islamic Republic's policy is not based on excluding the Taliban, nor on completely ignoring the forces opposed to it. The Islamic Republic also recognizes that power in Afghanistan remains, under the current circumstances, monopolized by the Taliban, but it does not consider the movement's continued existence a certainty to the point of limiting all its channels of communication to a single party.
Reactions in Iran
In the first reaction to the invitation being extended simultaneously to the Taliban government and its opponents, former Iranian ambassador to Kabul Hassan Kazemi Qomi said that the Taliban does not represent all the people of Afghanistan.
Qomi said in an interview with the Iranian website “Iraf,” which deals with Afghan affairs: “The Taliban represent a segment of the Afghan people, but they do not represent all the people of this country.”
The former Iranian special envoy for Afghan affairs added that the Islamic Republic of Iran, by virtue of the cultural, historical and civilizational ties that bind it to Afghanistan, does not limit its relations to one political current, but maintains contact with all Afghan parties.
Kazemi Qomi explained, commenting on the presence of a number of figures opposed to the Taliban in Tehran, that this visit was not of a political nature, but came exclusively to offer condolences and participate in the funeral ceremonies for Khamenei.
