"US warns of growing Iranian support for Taliban"

[Prada]

It is interesting what is developping here. The Taliban was the creation and proxy of Pakistan in Aghanistan prior to its fall. The pakistanis no longer support the Taliban, to an extent, and pretty much left to its own devices due to Musharrafs support of the war on terror. Hence, Iran on the western border of Afghanistan, never supported and detested the Taliban. Which to my knowledge was the only governmental authority wa actually able to control Afghanistan in almost one complete entity. So, now with pakistani support supposedly at a minimum, Iran decides to sleep with the enemy (i.e Taliban) to garner support and overtake Aghanistan. Not militarily speaking, rather politically speaking. On Irans border to the west you have Iraq and they would just play a waiting game, support the insurgents....wait untill the US leaves and just like afghanistan create a power vacuum, create a Shia state with its hand involved as well. Combine this with its nuclear ambition and it seems concerning to say the least.

http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/US_warn..._04182007.html
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007


Brussels- A leading US official on Wednesday warned of
"unhealthy" Iranian involvement in Afghanistan, saying Tehran was
meddling in the country's political affairs and providing weapons to
a resurgent Taliban.
Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and
South Asian Affairs, also said Washington was not aiming to "wipe
out" the Taliban but wanted to stop the insurgents from disrupting
the political development of Afghanistan.

Boucher, who met EU officials in Brussels, said Iran was a
"developing issue of concern."

His comments come only a day after Pentagon's top general Peter
Pace said coalition forces in Afghanistan had intercepted
Iranian-made mortars and explosives destined for the Taliban.

"We don't know exactly who is doing this and why, but we know that
these have been Iranian origin weapons that have shown up in the
hands of the Taliban," Boucher said.

"We have been seeing a series of indicators that Iran is getting
more involved in an unhealthy way in Afghanistan," the US official
warned.

Boucher insisted that the "military defeat of the Taliban was not
the "key task." The focus was on building Afghan democracy and
strengthening the outreach of the government.

"This is where terrorism originally came from," said Boucher
referring to Al-Qaeda's use of Afghan territory. He said a
democratic Afghanistan would therefore play a vital role in
stabilizing the region.

"There is an historic opportunity to change the dynamic in this
region and create an area of stability between Asia and the Middle
East," he said.

[mcpeepants]

I don't see why Iran would want to support the Taliban, at least politically speaking. There relationship with the new Afghan government is cordial and getting better compared to that with the Taliban government which they almost went to war with. The Taliban is allied with drug traffickers that are sending opium into Iran causing a rise in drug use. The Taliban are also the fundamentalist type that consider shia heretic and are allied with al qaieda that is busy killing shia in Iraq. Even without meddling, the new Iraqi and Afghani governments will be more friendly to Iran than Saddam and the Taliban were.

[Logan13]

It is interesting what is developping here. The Taliban was the creation and proxy of Pakistan in Aghanistan prior to its fall. The pakistanis no longer support the Taliban, to an extent, and pretty much left to its own devices due to Musharrafs support of the war on terror. Hence, Iran on the western border of Afghanistan, never supported and detested the Taliban. Which to my knowledge was the only governmental authority wa actually able to control Afghanistan in almost one complete entity. So, now with pakistani support supposedly at a minimum, Iran decides to sleep with the enemy (i.e Taliban) to garner support and overtake Aghanistan. Not militarily speaking, rather politically speaking. On Irans border to the west you have Iraq and they would just play a waiting game, support the insurgents....wait untill the US leaves and just like afghanistan create a power vacuum, create a Shia state with its hand involved as well. Combine this with its nuclear ambition and it seems concerning to say the least.

http://rawstory.com/news/dpa/US_warn..._04182007.html
dpa German Press Agency
Published: Wednesday April 18, 2007


Brussels- A leading US official on Wednesday warned of
"unhealthy" Iranian involvement in Afghanistan, saying Tehran was
meddling in the country's political affairs and providing weapons to
a resurgent Taliban.
Richard Boucher, US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and
South Asian Affairs, also said Washington was not aiming to "wipe
out" the Taliban but wanted to stop the insurgents from disrupting
the political development of Afghanistan.

Boucher, who met EU officials in Brussels, said Iran was a
"developing issue of concern."

His comments come only a day after Pentagon's top general Peter
Pace said coalition forces in Afghanistan had intercepted
Iranian-made mortars and explosives destined for the Taliban.

"We don't know exactly who is doing this and why, but we know that
these have been Iranian origin weapons that have shown up in the
hands of the Taliban," Boucher said.

"We have been seeing a series of indicators that Iran is getting
more involved in an unhealthy way in Afghanistan," the US official
warned.

Boucher insisted that the "military defeat of the Taliban was not
the "key task." The focus was on building Afghan democracy and
strengthening the outreach of the government.

"This is where terrorism originally came from," said Boucher
referring to Al-Qaeda's use of Afghan territory. He said a
democratic Afghanistan would therefore play a vital role in
stabilizing the region.

"There is an historic opportunity to change the dynamic in this
region and create an area of stability between Asia and the Middle
East," he said.

very troubling indeed.

[chaznad]

ahhh nice,, looks like we found a reason to invade Iran ???
kinda like saddams weapons of mass destruction and his support and harboring of the taliban/al-qaida
come on

bring the troops back, enough have died