In a phone call on Friday night, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and his Afghan counterpart, Mohammad Haneef Atmar, discussed mutual relations and the latest developments surrounding Afghanistan’s peace process.

The Afghan foreign minister, for his part, hailed developing ties between Tehran and Kabul and appreciated Iran’s effective role in Afghan peace process.

The top Iranian and Afghan diplomats also stressed the need to expedite the finalization and signing of a comprehensive document on the two countries’ strategic cooperation.

The US reached a deal with the Taliban in February last year on the withdrawal of 12,000 US troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the Taliban’s halting of their attacks on American forces.

Under the so-called Doha Accord, the former US administration promised to bring the number of US forces in Afghanistan to zero by May 2021 in exchange for security guarantees.

With the fighting continuing, new US President Joe Biden has pushed that deadline back, but removed the conditions.

On Wednesday, Biden said it was “time to end America’s longest war” and noted he would withdraw the remaining American forces from Afghanistan by September 11.

The US troop withdrawal process will begin on May 1, Biden said.

The Taliban said on Tuesday that they would not participate in any peace talks for Afghanistan until all foreign forces leave the country.

“Until all foreign forces completely withdraw from our homeland, (we) will not participate in any conference that shall make decisions about Afghanistan,” Taliban spokesman Mohammad Naeem said in a post on Twitter.

The US currently has around 3,500 troops in Afghanistan.

Despite the presence of thousands of foreign troops in Afghanistan, violence still ravages the country.

In a report released on Wednesday, the United Nations said the number of civilians killed and injured in Afghanistan during the first three months of 2021 had been “significantly” higher than a year ago.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan recorded in its report close to 1,800 civilian casualties, including 573 deaths, a 29% increase compared with the same period in 2020.

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The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the total turnout in the presidential election, which was marred by allegations of massive fraud, was 1.9 million with Ashraf Ghani securing 50.64%, enough to win the first round of the election results, according to Reuters.

IEC head Hawa Alam Nuristani said in a press conference in Kabul that outcome could change after final results and was subject to a review by the election complaints commission.

If a review showed Ghani’s vote falling below 50% and no other candidate with a majority, the second round of voting would be held, she said.

Ghani’s top challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who currently shares power with him in an awkward unity government, finished second with 39.52% of the vote, according to tally announced by the IEC.

In a statement on Sunday, Abdullah’s office said he did not accept the preliminary results and that the commission had failed to tackle election fraud.

“The result that stands is based on fraud and without considering our legitimate demands, will never be accepted,” the statement said.

With 9.7 million registered voters, according to IEC, Afghanistan’s 1.9 million voter turnout for the presidential election was low.

Last month, IEC began recounting thousands of votes due to what it described as discrepancies in its system. Abdullah’s side objected to the recount and called it an attempt to add more votes in favor of Ghani. IEC dismissed those allegations.

In protest, Abdullah’s supporters blocked IEC offices in seven northern provinces to prevent the recount, creating delays in the results announcement.

Last week, Abdullah Abdullah allowed the recount but warned that he would not accept a tainted result.

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