Iran ‘trains Taliban
fighters’ in four camps
Iran is supplying the Taliban with more weapons,
training and cash, say reports
Iran
has stepped up its support for the Taliban in Afghanistan, providing at least
four training camps for the movement’s fighters inside its territory, according
to officials quoted in the Wall Street
Journal.
While
Iran’s Shia rulers sit at the opposite end of the religious spectrum from the
Taliban’s Sunni fundamentalists, the two have become allies of convenience
against common enemies.
In the
past, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps gave the Taliban weapons and money
to fight American and other Western forces in Afghanistan. As long ago as 2007,
Western officials noted that convoys carrying weapons for the Taliban were
crossing Afghanistan’s frontier with Iran.
Today,
the terrorists of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil) are
establishing a presence in Afghanistan, against the bitter opposition of the
Taliban. Now that US and coalition troops are no longer conducting combat
operations in Afghanistan, the evidence suggests that Iran is helping the
Taliban against the common enemy represented by Isil.
One
Taliban commander said that Iran was paying his monthly salary as well as
supplying his fighters with guns and ammunition.
In
addition, Iran has allowed the Taliban to open an office in the eastern city of
Mashhad.
Iran
now runs at least four training camps for Taliban fighters, located in Tehran
as well as in Mashhad, the city of Zahedan and the province of Kerman.
This
extra support has helped the Taliban to renew their offensive against government
forces in Afghanistan. “If it wasn’t for Iran, I don’t think they would’ve been
able to push an offensive like they are doing now,” said Antonio Giustozzi, a
Taliban expert, quoted in the Wall Street Journal.
America
and Iran are trying to settle the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear programme with
a final agreement due to be signed by the end of this month. Under the likely
terms of this deal, sanctions on Iran would be lifted. Billions of dollars of
extra revenue would then flow into the regime’s coffers, potentially allowing
them to give more support to the Taliban and other armed movements.
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