Will Afghanistan's powerful neighbours engage the Taliban?

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

60% : In 2018, Iran became Afghanistan's biggest trade partner, with its exports reaching nearly $2bn, in addition to a large volume of Afghan imports passing through Iranian ports.
59% : Apart from political interests, Iran also looks to Afghanistan for economic opportunities.
58% : Afghanistan's immediate neighbours - Pakistan, Iran and China - all have special interests in the country that they are likely to pursue with renewed vigour.
58% : Iran will strive to maintain its access to the Afghan market, which in recent years has been flooded with Iranian goods.
56% : Thus, Afghanistan's neighbours - Pakistan, China and Iran - all have a vested interest in a stable government in Kabul that can secure Afghan borders and economic activities.
55% : Iran is a major market for Afghan opium and an important corridor for shipping narcotics to Europe and the Persian Gulf.
53% : That is why Iran wants to see stability in Afghanistan that would allow some of these refugees to return.
51% : While maintaining high trade volumes, Iran will also seek to stem the flow of narcotics through its porous border with Afghanistan.
48% : Pakistan, China, and Iran are yet to recognise the Taliban government, but they all have an interest in doing so.
48% : The April announcement of US troops withdrawal from Afghanistan increased concern in China about border security in the Wakhan Corridor, where it shares a 92km (57 miles) border strip with Afghanistan, but also encouraged the Chinese government to approach the Taliban leadership for preliminary talks.
47% : Therefore, establishing effective mechanisms with the Taliban government to solve the narcotics problem will be a major challenge for Iran.
46% : Worried by the vast US military presence in the region after 2001, Iran established ties with the group and tried to undermine US interests by covertly supporting it.
45% : So what does this mean for relations with Pakistan, China and Iran?
40% : In the 1990s, Tehran was backing the Northern Alliance of anti-Taliban forces and did not recognise Taliban rule in Kabul.
40% : The Taliban has given assurances that it will not allow armed groups on Afghan soil to threaten other countries, but Iran will expect more than just words.
39% : The more than two million Afghan refugees on Iranian territory also worry Tehran.
36% : Iran, which shares a 921km (572-mile) border with Afghanistan, has also suffered from the instability ravaging its neighbour for decades.
31% : Tehran also criticised the Taliban for not including minorities in the cabinet it announced.
30% : Another contentious issue between Kabul and Tehran are militants threatening Iranian security.

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