Iran Helping Taliban Kill Troops

By Semperpapa

It may come as a surprise, but the West now is realizing that Iran is helping the Taliban in its terrorist efforts against American troops in Afghanistan.
The startling revelation was outlined in an interview that the Times Online conducted with two Taliban commanders who the reporters convinced to travel to Kabul to tell their story.

According to the article, the Taliban terrorists traveled into Iran at the beginning of winter and there they were trained by Iranian plain clothes instructors in the art of ambushing NATO troops, the construction of IEDs (improvised explosive devices), planting of IEDs in series so to kill rescuers of victims of IEDs, and attacking checkpoints and bases.
After the “news” became known, it is said that Western officials found the revelations “disturbing”, including the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, Karl Eikenberry.

Upon reading the headline of this article I almost moved on, as my first reaction to it was “Really? No kidding?” but I decided to actually take a look at it and sort of regretted it afterward, because I find it utterly mind blowing.

Anyone who has even slightly followed the events around Afghanistan in the last 12-14 months would have been able to realize that the threat Iran represents for our troops in Afghanistan is a clear and present one. With Pakistan push against the Taliban on their side of the border, the only place left for the terrorists to seek refuge and replenishment is to the west, in Iran.
Months ago I stated in one of my blogs, that the Taliban fighters able to escape the July 2009 offensive in the Helmand Province most likely made their way into Iran to find refuge and to undergo training and replenishing during the winter months in preparation for the usual Spring offensive activities.

Considering the fact that I am not in the know of any classified information, that I am not an expert in terrorism or Afghanistan, my deduction came from pure application of something called common sense.
The “experts” discount Iran help for the Taliban based of the fact that the Shiite Iran would never aid the predominantly Sunni Taliban, but in my simple mind I saw an Islamic theocracy bent on the destruction of the West being in the position to aid Islamic terrorist bent on killing Americans, notion that was confirmed by the Taliban commanders in the interview. Plain and simple.

At one level, the reaction of the western officials to the news proves to me that the “experts” are so engrossed in their “expertise” that they forget or reject the basis of common sense.
At another level, I find their reactions disingenuous at best and criminal at worst, as their access to classified information should have given them the inkling that Teheran is indeed involved in the killing of NATO troops, especially after the report, dated back to 2007, surfaced telling of a new kind of IED, the Shaped Charge IED, could be traced back to Iran, new IEDs that were killing many US and Coalition forces in Iraq.

The overall conviction I reach is that NATO, an organization that stood up to the Soviet threat during the Cold War, is nothing but a shell of its initial significance.
From the spineless leadership of every European country to the spineless leadership in Washington, the handling of the Iran issue is highly disturbing.
Most of the military contingents in Afghanistan have performed well in the struggle against the Taliban. British troops have suffered high rates of casualties, mostly due to IEDs, and here we have a British News Agency conducting an interview with terrorists who declare they are trained and ready to inflict even more casualties. I guess my understanding of support for the troops is different than smarter people.

But it appears that the various government are just not too interested in taking care of their troops in harm’s way, because the “revelation” surfaced from this article should prompt them to take very publicized measures against it.
I may be completely off base here, but the knowledge of a specific country’s aid to our enemy should invoke a more robust reaction on the part of the good guys.

If I was king, I know a scary thought, I would definitely make Iran understand that helping the Taliban terrorists killing my troops is not appreciated, and would definitely cause a reaction on my part.
According to the Taliban commanders interviewed, the training camps in question are fairly close to the Afghan border, and surely our technological advance should be able to pin point them for surgical strikes. The message should be clear, and one that the mullahs in Teheran would understand: close the training camps or you will have a lot of new parking lots.
But as sheepish the European leadership is, more concerned about their economic cooperation with Iran than the lives of their soldiers, the Washington leadership is just as bad if not worst, because they cannot even use that excuse, at least not openly.

Just my thoughts.