“Iranian weapons” are making it to the Taliban in western Afghanistan. The big question: is this a deliberate government policy, as Iranian support to the insurgents in Iraq was? Or is this coincidental or rogue activity within southeastern Iran?
Couple things to keep in mind here: the Taliban fighting in Farah and Nimroz are not the same who are fighting in Khost, Kapisa, or Kunar. There is a significantly stronger presence of drug smuggling in the area, and Iran does not act in a single unified manner.
However sources said Tehran was still “hedging its bets”, with elements within the country believed to be supporting Afghan insurgents.
The Shia-Muslim dominated country has no wish to see extremist Sunni groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan but it remains deeply suspicious of the US presence.
There is a big difference between the two, but even so it’s getting played as Iran directly supporting the group it assembled 200,000 people to fight just a decade ago.
We’re pushing two straight years now of accusations that Iran is funding and arming the Taliban, yet precious little evidence ever makes it into the public. That doesn’t mean it’s not happening, but right now there is evidence of Iranian-made weapons in Farah, Herat, and Nimroz, and the assumption that they have been deliberately supplied by Iran.
I don’t mean to defend Iran, but that’s not really evidence of interference. There might be more in classified sources that we just don’t hear in the newspapers. Either way, arming the Taliban would be such an incredible risk for Iran in a way it wasn’t when funding the insurgency in Iraq, that there should be some sort of evidence to bolster the claim that Iran is exacerbating the Taliban. But in either case the continuing accusations against Iran, without evidence any government is willing to disclose, cannot be helpful.
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There are more US made weapons infiltrating amongst the Taliban courtesy of the Afghan government. Does that mean that the US is arming the Taliban?
the iranian state is not supplying arms to the taliban. having worked in herat, farah, and ghor provinces, i don’t believe this report for a second. i think some pashtun official in the herati government is making shit up.
being a guerilla force, the lion’s share of taliban arms and ammo come from their enemies – in this case, usually the ANP. this has been usefully documented by cj chivers in the nytimes (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/world/asia/20ammo.html), and makes sense in the context of what i saw what i was there. if this telegraph reporter actually were to post pictures of the captured iranian kit, i’d be impressed, although as you said that might just establish the existence of smuggling etc. as things stand, though, i think he’s just being told some tales…
on another note, it remains the case that no evidence has been released to support the assertion that the iranian state was even supporting anti-US forces in iraq. this has been covered in reasonable depth by gareth porter at ips (http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=42448), and makes sense to me as well.
the iranians have won in iraq through democracy. in knocking over saddam we put in place the conditions for their proxies to democratically seize power. the iranians won the US-iraq war! chalabi convinced us to knock over their worst enemy! why should the iranians arm SCIRI when we’re doing it for them?
similar dynamics apply to iranian proxies, for example, in the herati provincial government. why would the iranians arm ismail khan? he’s been the minister of energy and water for years now! a number of iranian-aligned officials besides him are already in government at the national level, and at the provincial level the government in farah, herat, ghor, etc is largely composed of them. why the heck would the iranians possibly arm the taliban!?
we should also remember that iranian weapons (pretty much all kinds) can be purchased online with a credit card if you can manage to successfully register with their site (http://www.diomil.ir/en/aig.aspx). i honestly think their arms-control mechanisms are pretty good, but there’s always some leakage.
people gotta understand – if they want to know what it looks like when iran supports an insurgent force, they need only look at hezbollah vs. israel in july 06. that’s what it looks like. without iranian consent we wouldn’t even be operating the middle east. we couldn’t afford to.
“Either way, arming the Taliban would be such an incredible risk for Iran in a way it wasn’t when funding the insurgency in Iraq, that there should be some sort of evidence to bolster the claim that Iran is exacerbating the Taliban. But in either case the continuing accusations against Iran, without evidence any government is willing to disclose, cannot be helpful.”
As opposed for building and supplying EFPs to JAM, Badr, etc? The argument against Iran’s funding and support of the Talibs is that it’s risky? There’s no risk in arming and training JAM, who have killed hundreds of US servicement. I would say it is the US’s mute response to these provocations that have encouraged Tehran to continue to finance anyone who would oppose the US. It’s unhelpful to accuse Iran of nigh-on openly supporting armed groups that violent oppose US forces? It’s a bit of a straw man and it begs the question.
Why wouldn’t Iran do such a thing, when it is clearly in their nature. Iran is an ideological state, no matter how much rap music the kids there listen to, or how much hair gel they use. They have been financing wars that have nothing to do with their immediate national security (Levantine adventurism, assassinations in Europe, bombings in South America). It’s like trying to explain Norko behavior without discussing the personal madness of Kim.
Attempting to analyze Iranian obscurantist political motivations through the lens of Western logic is fundamentally obtuse. I don’t care if this makes me sound like a “racist” or Orientalist. I find it regretful that people will continue to defend or justify the actions of the dictatorial Iranian government. This is being spoken by a Farsi-speaking devotee of Persian art and culture, and an admirer of Iran’s historical legacy.
mebakshen kamaangir -
what evidence is there to support the contention that the iranian state has been supplying arms to JAM or badr? considering that the US arms badr dudes quite well (and give them trucks, buildings, training, and police uniforms) i’m not sure why iran would even need to bother…
EFP factories have been discovered in IRaq. Why would they need Iran?
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