The United States and other western nations frantically evacuated their embassies in Kabul for fear of the Taliban’s vengeance. But Iran was sitting pretty and staying put. Iran’s embassy in Kabul, as well as its consulate in Taliban-controlled Herat, remained “fully open and operational,” said Saeed Khatibzadeh, spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on August 16.
Iran’s relatively sanguine stance toward the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan demonstrates, above all, the strides Tehran has made in improving its relations with the armed insurgent network that was once considered a mortal enemy of the Islamic Republic.
Iran spent years preparing for a Taliban victory. It may still get stung. – Atlantic Council
