- 13 August 2009
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- 3 Comments
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- Afghanistan, Diplomacy
U.S. sees Iranian aid to Taliban as insubstantial
13 August 2009 Posted By David Elliott
Reuters (and only Reuters) has the story:
The United States believes that Iran has supplied arms to insurgents in neighboring Afghanistan but top advisers to President Barack Obama said on Wednesday that the information was conflicting and any threat appeared unsubstantial.
Shi’ite Iran is not a comfortable ally of the hardline Sunni Taliban, but analysts say Tehran may be providing some support to tie down and irritate U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
Earlier this year, the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan accused Iran of supporting the Taliban but said he had not seen the introduction of sophisticated Iranian military equipment of the kind that was sent to Iraq.
“We get conflicting reports on that,” Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, told a panel organized by the Center for American Progress, a Washington think tank, when asked if Iran was supporting the insurgency.
Holbrooke’s senior defense advisor, Vikram Singh, said: “Certainly, the Iranians have in the past provided some arms to some groups inside Afghanistan. I do not think it has been viewed from a defense perspective as a substantial effort or a substantial threat.”
A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Iranian assistance came mainly in the form of arms, rather than direct training of militants
“There’s reason to believe that Iran is supplying arms and other materials to insurgents in Afghanistan, including the Taliban,” the official said.
He provided no details about the types of arms.
Holbrooke said Tehran had a “legitimate role to play in the resolution of the Afghan issue.”
“They are a factor. And to pretend that they’re not, as was often done in the past, doesn’t make much sense,” Holbrooke said, but added: “We don’t have any direct contacts with them on this.”
Drug addiction is a major problem in Iran and Holbrooke said “those drugs are coming across the Afghan border and it is a major concern to them.”
Obviously, this is a divergence from the Bush administration, which often played up the role of Iran in Afghanistan.
3 Responses to “U.S. sees Iranian aid to Taliban as insubstantial”
Arms may well be coming into Afghanistan in exchange for drugs; everyone in Afghanistan wants guns. But this can be going on without the encouragement of Khameini.
And even the higher levels of the Iranian regime do not speak or act as one body. You can’t say “Iran supplies arms” without saying which Iranians are doing it.
“Earlier this year, the U.S. commander of international forces in Afghanistan accused Iran of supporting the Taliban but said he had not seen the introduction of sophisticated Iranian military equipment of the kind that was sent to Iraq.”
What sophisticated military equipment? Is this a reference to EFPs? These can hardly be considered sophisticated.
What have not been found on either battlefield are Iranian MANPADS and ATGMs, the likes of which are probably being held back as a means of escalation, should a military strike be initiated upon Iran by the US or Israel.
I agree with Don Cox’s comments.
The volume of drug smuggling across the Iran-Afghan border makes drug trafficking across the US-Mexican border look like an annual picnic.
It’s a shame that the sophisticated imagery techniques Hollywood feeds us in films like Body of Lies, Syriana, Eagle Eye, Lions for Lambs (etc…), alluding to the US military’s ability to find a needle in haystack, can’t be put to use to stem the flow of drugs.