Like the similar claims [2] being made about Iran arming its Sunni-extremist deadly enemies in Iraq, this strikes us as utterly improbable. Recall that before 9-11, Iran was on the brink of war with Afghanistan, over the Taliban's ethnic cleansing of Shi'ites [3]. There is also an Orwellian aspect to these claims given the now-forgotten reports of US-Iran cooperation [4] in the 2001 campaign against the Taliban. But I guess we're not supposed to talk about that. From wire services, via the Baltimore Sun [5], Sept. 22:
KABUL — A top American commander accused Iran yesterday of supplying powerful roadside bombs to militants in Afghanistan and said the U.S. would "act decisively" if the cross-border flow continues. Heavy battles in the violent south, meanwhile, killed 75 Taliban and at least six civilians, and a suicide car bomb in the capital killed a French soldier and an Afghan bystander. Adm. William Fallon, the head of U.S. Central Command, said Iran's Revolutionary Guard is supplying roadside bomb parts for the type of sophisticated and deadly bombs found in Iraq known as explosively formed penetrators. Iran has denied that it is supplying arms to fighters in Afghanistan.
See our last posts on Iran [6], and Afghanistan [7].
