Iran says held talks with Taliban as blasts hit Kabul

DUBAI - Iran held talks with a delegation from Afghanistan's Taliban, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday, a week after peace talks between the United States and the Islamist insurgents collapsed.

Meanwhile Taliban suicide bombers killed dozens in two separate attacks near Kabul on Tuesday, as the insurgent group seeks to disrupt presidential elections scheduled for September 28.

Iran said in December it had been meeting with Taliban representatives with the knowledge of the Afghan government, after reports of US-Taliban talks about a ceasefire and a possible withdrawal of foreign troops.

Last week, the US-Taliban talks collapsed and fighting resurged. The two sides had been seeking to reach an accord on the withdrawal of thousands of American troops from Afghanistan in exchange for Taliban security guarantees.

"In the framework of Iran's comprehensive consultations with all parties in Afghanistan, a Taliban political delegation visited our country recently to discuss the latest developments in Afghanistan with...Iranian officials," Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi was quoted as saying by state media.

Mousavi did not give further details.

The US-Taliban negotiations, which did not include the Afghan government, were intended as a prelude to wider peace talks to end more than 40 years of war in Afghanistan.

Majority Shia Muslim Iran has long had close ties to Shia groups in neighbouring Afghanistan whose militias have fought the Taliban's Sunni Muslim militants.

But last year, Afghan government officials accused Tehran, which the United States says is trying to extend its influence in western Afghanistan, of providing the Taliban with money, weapons and explosives. Iran denies that.

In October, the United States accused Iran of providing military training, financing and weapons to the Taliban. Tehran denied this.

Iran was at odds with the Taliban for most of the time the group ruled Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, and massed troops on the border in 1998 after 11 of its diplomats were killed there. Tehran then armed factions that helped US-led forces overthrow the Taliban after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Although Iran has a fractious history with the Taliban, its current policy in Afghanistan - with which it shares a border - is seen by analysts as a pragmatic one of containment, designed to play the US-backed government and the insurgents against each other by providing a degree of support to both.

The Taliban, which refuses to talk to Afghanistan's government, has vowed to disrupt upcoming presidential elections in the country. The group had maintained a concerted bombing campaign while simultaneously participating in the peace talks with US officials.

Suicide attacks

Taliban suicide bombers killed at least 48 people and wounded dozens more in two blasts Tuesday -- one at a campaign rally for the president and the other in Kabul -- with the insurgents warning of more violence ahead of the elections.

The first attack saw a motorcyclist detonate a suicide bomb at a checkpoint leading to a rally where President Ashraf Ghani was addressing supporters in central Parwan province, just north of the capital, killing 26 and wounding 42.

Just over an hour later another blast also claimed by the Taliban rocked central Kabul near the US embassy. Authorities initially did not give casualty figures, but later said 22 people had been killed and a further 38 wounded.

In a statement sent to media claiming responsibility for both blasts, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said the attack near Ghani's rally was deliberately aimed at disrupting the September 28 elections.

"We already warned people not to attend election rallies, if they suffer any losses that is their own responsibility," the statement said.

An AFP image from the scene near Ghani's rally, roughly an hour's drive north of Kabul, showed the remains of a burnt motorcycle, with a body on top, covered by a blanket and next to a badly damaged police car.

Women and children were among the causalities, Parwan hospital director Abdul Qasim Sangin said.

The president, who was speaking to his supporters at the time of the blast, was unhurt but later condemned the attack, saying the incident proved the Taliban had no real interest in reconciliation.

"As the Taliban continue their crimes, they once again prove that they are not interested in peace and stability in Afghanistan," said Ghani in a statement.

Talks 'dead'

Sixty kilometres (40 miles) away in Kabul, a shopkeeper, Rahimullah, said he had been sitting inside his shop when the second blast came.

"The wave broke all the windows," he said.

"I rushed outside and saw several bodies just across the street. This is the second time in less than a month that a blast has broken our windows. I just fixed them a week ago."

The UN's mission in Afghanistan also slammed the Taliban, accusing them of showing "despicable disregard for civilian life & fundamental human right to participate in democratic process".

The elections will see Ghani face off against his own Chief Executive, Abdullah Abdullah, and more than a dozen other candidates, including former warlords, ex-spies, and onetime members of the country's former communist regime.

For weeks, the election had been sidelined by the US-Taliban talks, with many Afghans and observers expecting the vote to be cancelled if a deal was agreed. Even candidates did little in the way of campaigning.

But with the deal off, Ghani and his rivals have begun the race. Ghani is seeking a clear mandate they can use to negotiate with the insurgents on a lasting peace in Afghanistan.

Trump's declaration that the US-Taliban talks were "dead" spurred the insurgents to declare last week that the only other option was more fighting.

"We had two ways to end occupation in Afghanistan, one was jihad and fighting, the other was talks and negotiations," Mujahid said last week.

"If Trump wants to stop talks, we will take the first way and they will soon regret it."

Observers had warned the Taliban, who hope to weaken the future president, will do anything they can to upend the election.

On the first day of campaigning in July, suicide attackers and gunmen targeted the Kabul office of Ghani's running mate, Amrullah Saleh. At least 20 people died in those attacks.

Turnout in the elections is set to be low, with experts citing fear of violence and a loss of hope among voters following widespread fraud allegations during the 2014 election.

A BBC investigation released on Monday claimed that 74 people were killed every day on average in August, with 611 incidents resulting in 2,307 deaths.