About Us

Tour

FAQ

Signup

Login

Welcome to our New Political Community - Take a Quick Tour of our Features including our Discussion Forums custom designed for U.S. politics. SIGN UP today to join in the discussion.

Issues > Wars & Conflicts > 2001 Afghanistan War > Forum > Thread

Add Political Issue Content

Displaying all 3 Forum Posts for the Thread:

Iran helping Taliban... we think.

You must be logged in to reply to a post.

2010-05-31 08:43 PM

Zach F
Denton, TX
Posts: 481

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/05/30/taliban-training-in-iran_n_594995.html

How should we react to this news? Do we take this information with a grain of salt after the wonderfully good intel that got us involved in Iraq?

2010-09-01 07:35 PM

Jamie
Ames, IA
Posts: 3

1. "'There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity - in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban - that is inappropriate.'" I completely agree. All provisions of weaponry and training to the Taliban are inappropriate. This is an interesting 180 turn in US policy, no?

2. "'A summer offensive planned for the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar will be similarly painstaking,' McChrystal said." The Taliban has a birthplace, but it's not Kandahar. One can either situate it in Saudi Arabia, if one looks at the Taliban from the perspective of funding and particular ideological strain (Wahhabism) guiding it. Or, the birthplace can be situated in the refugee camps along the Afghan-Pakistan border on the Pakistani side where the Saudi-financed schools were located, and a group of students formed and identified themselves as the Taliban.

3. It would beyond ironic if Iran was supplying them, since the Taliban are ideologically opposed to Iran. Iran is overwhelmingly Shi'a, who the Taliban consider "infidels." Also, a Taliban-esque group, Jundullah, was conducting raids across the border into Iran from Pakistan attacking villages and towns, blowing up mosques until last year, I believe, when the 20-/21-year-old leader was arrested on a Pakistani commercial flight over Iran (the plane was forced to land). Their group name, Jundullah, was changed to something more acceptable for American viewers ("Iranian Liberation ..." something or other) at the very beginning of the very odd Iran-mania media campaign.

A grain of salt? I wouldn't even give it that much.

2010-09-07 07:27 AM

Schmidt
Colorado Springs, CO
Posts: 854

I agree with Jamie. I have lots of skepticism for any statements coming out of our military. Nevertheless Wikileaks recently published a series of military intelligence logs from 2005 and 2006 that seem to support the military's claim...well maybe. Didn't they also make the same claims about Iran helping Iraq? And in any case, this is old stuff from the Bush days.

I suspect that some Iranians arms are indeed being supplied to the Taliban, but not as a sanctioned activity of the Iranian government. These are most likely small time players seeking to make a profit in selling arms. To stretch the argument, couldn't the Mexicans claim that the USA is covertly supplying the Mexican drug cartels with arms because some American arms dealers are profiting from illegal arms sales?

Displaying all 3 Forum Posts for the Thread:

Iran helping Taliban... we think.

You must be logged in to reply to a post.

About Us

FAQ

Advertise

Links

Login

Sign Up

Terms & Conditions | Privacy Policy

OBAMA ACCOMPLISHMENTS - REPUBLICAN DIVORCES - REPUBLICAN INFIDELITY & AFFAIRS - REPUBLICAN SCANDALS & CONTROVERSIES