Heading a high-ranking delegation, Baharvand met with Abdullah in Kabul on Tuesday night.

During the meeting, Baharvand underlined the need for cooperation of both countries within the framework of the joint committee to probe the case.

Abdullah stressed the good neighborliness between Iran and Afghanistan, saying that his country wants a serious and fair investigation into the human tragedy.

Earlier in the day, the Iranian delegation held a meeting with an Afghan delegation headed by Foreign Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar in Kabul.

During the meeting, Atmar called for Iran’s full cooperation on joint investigations related to the Harirud incident.

“The purpose of this research is to get the facts, to take legal action against the perpetrators, and to take the necessary measures to prevent such unfortunate incidents in the future, which may affect the relations between the two friendly and neighboring countries,” he said.

On May 1, some claims surfaced in media reports that Iranian border guards had tortured and thrown as many as 57 Afghans into the Hari River (Harirud) in western Herat province to prevent their illegal entry into Iran. The Khaama Press News Agency said at least 23 of them drowned in Harirud.

Tehran has roundly rejected the claims, saying the incident took place on the Afghan side of the border and Iranian forces had no role in the incident.

Iran has extensive evidence that the incident has not happened on its borders. According to Iran’s Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyyed Abbas Mousavi, the confirmed reports received from the border guards of the Islamic Republic of Iran show that such an incident has not occurred on the mentioned date and location. He noted that Iran has not been associated with Afghan migrants and the claims of transferring people to camps or inhumane treatment are completely baseless. He added that due to weather conditions of the region, not a single Afghan citizen entered the territory of the Islamic Republic of Iran on that date.

Much-awaited and long-delayed preliminary results for the landmark presidential elections in Afghanistan were announced on Sunday.

Afghanistan Election Commission announced the 2019 presidential election preliminary results, Ashraf Ghani has secured the majority of votes, according to Tolo News.

He has won 50.64% and his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, with 39.5%.

Chief Executive of Afghanistan Abdullah Abdullah rejected the initial election results and has assured his supporters to defend from their votes.

Afghanistan Presidential Election was held on September 28th. There were high concerns about the election due to ongoing conflicts as the Taliban had threaded the people not to take part in the vote casting. However, a large number of people have braved the challenges and cast their votes to preserve the rule of democracy in the country.

Moreover, Ghani’s top competitor, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah along with a number of other candidates had opposed the votes’ recounting process- an implementation was planned by the IEC to audit the casted votes.

His supporters have staged widespread protests in several provinces as they had blocked the IEC’s centers in seven Northern provinces. However, Abdullah in a press conference, later on, has called on his supporters to allow the commission to implement the process.

But he had warned that his team would not accept any fraudulence results, accusing the IEC and Ghani of committing systematic fraud in the election.

Araghchi is scheduled to hold separate talks with senior Afghan officials, including his counterpart Salahuddin Rabbani, President Ashraf Ghani, and Afghanistan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

During his one-day visit, the top diplomat will discuss bilateral ties and regional issues as well as the Afghan-Afghan peace talks.