Irannian arms found in Afghanistan

[stormthebeaches]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... istan.html

Border officials have reported that a wide range of material made in Iran – including mortars, plastic explosives, propaganda materials and mobile phones – is ending up in insurgents' hands.

Rahmutallah Safi, the head of Border Police in Herat, an Afghan city on its western border with Iran, said seized material was marked with Persian writing, Channel 4 News reported last night.

"In this place you can see, we have discovered five mines," he said. "All the international monitors have seen it. You yourselves can check to see which country has made it. You can see the [Persian] marks on the weapons and the type and show it to the world."

A Taliban commander admitted that the insurgents had grown more dependent on Iran as Pakistan stepped up operations against the group on its territory.

"Day by day the Iranian border becomes more important for us," he said. "Especially now in Pakistan there are many problems for the Taliban and many of the Taliban have been imprisoned and also they arrest any Taliban who comes out of the[religious schools].

"The mujahideen themselves bring the weapons and money in although we do also use professional smugglers to bring in our shipments."

But a Nato spokesman said Iran's support for the Taliban was "limited".

The Iranian embassy condemned the report as propaganda defaming Iran. "Iran was the first country to recognise Afghanistan and there is close co-operation and friendship between the two countries. The Taliban are enemies of Iran and have killed a number of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan," it said.

"These allegations are fabricated to pervert attentions from the problems and damage created by foreign forces in that country."

I always laughed at the idea of Shia Iran supporting the Sunni Taliban. But this is worrying. If it is true then one has to wonder what the Iranian regime is playing at.

[Lord of the Abyss]

If it is true then one has to wonder what the Iranian regime is playing at.

Harassing their enemy, aka the US. It's not like we and others haven't done the same thing all the time. After what the US backed Saddam did to Iran, I can't imagine that the Iranians will take any expressions of moral superiority on our part about this seriously.

[Pelranius]

The Iranian arms and supplies don't necessarily have to be passed on with Tehran's sanctions. It could easily be some Artesh or IRG officer looking to make a few bucks. After all, one of the Chechen rebels' best supplier types were corrupt Russian officers.

[Illuminatus Primus]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... istan.html

Border officials have reported that a wide range of material made in Iran – including mortars, plastic explosives, propaganda materials and mobile phones – is ending up in insurgents' hands.

Rahmutallah Safi, the head of Border Police in Herat, an Afghan city on its western border with Iran, said seized material was marked with Persian writing, Channel 4 News reported last night.

"In this place you can see, we have discovered five mines," he said. "All the international monitors have seen it. You yourselves can check to see which country has made it. You can see the [Persian] marks on the weapons and the type and show it to the world."

A Taliban commander admitted that the insurgents had grown more dependent on Iran as Pakistan stepped up operations against the group on its territory.

"Day by day the Iranian border becomes more important for us," he said. "Especially now in Pakistan there are many problems for the Taliban and many of the Taliban have been imprisoned and also they arrest any Taliban who comes out of the[religious schools].

"The mujahideen themselves bring the weapons and money in although we do also use professional smugglers to bring in our shipments."

But a Nato spokesman said Iran's support for the Taliban was "limited".

The Iranian embassy condemned the report as propaganda defaming Iran. "Iran was the first country to recognise Afghanistan and there is close co-operation and friendship between the two countries. The Taliban are enemies of Iran and have killed a number of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan," it said.

"These allegations are fabricated to pervert attentions from the problems and damage created by foreign forces in that country."

I always laughed at the idea of Shia Iran supporting the Sunni Taliban. But this is worrying. If it is true then one has to wonder what the Iranian regime is playing at.

I wonder if its anything like what the U.S. has been playing at its doorstep since 1979.

[irishmick79]

If it is true then one has to wonder what the Iranian regime is playing at.

Harassing their enemy, aka the US. It's not like we and others haven't done the same thing all the time. After what the US backed Saddam did to Iran, I can't imagine that the Iranians will take any expressions of moral superiority on our part about this seriously.

I imagine part of it. Iran is probably hedging their bets a bit as well. It's not like the Karzai government is a sure thing to stick around after the US leaves.

I also wonder which taliban leaders Iran is backing. They could be trying to cultivate relationships with talib groups along the Iran-Afghan border in an effort to get some sort of influence on the drug trade into Iran.

[Shroom Man 777]

I optimistically hope that Iran will also sell/provide MANPADs and manportable SAMs to the Afghanistan freedom fighters. Shiek Charlie Al-Wilson's War?

[stormthebeaches]

The reason why I find this whole thing bizzare is that when the Taliban where the enemies of the Iranian regime when they were in power. Surely Tehran would rather deal with the Karzai government than the Taliban? Maybe this is an attempt to spite the US? But the US has announced that it intents to start pulling soldiers out of Afghanistan in 2011.

Actually, now that I think about it, Iranian regime wants the US to stay in Afghanistan and figures that destabilizing the country by backing the Taliban is the best way to do this. The Iranian regime needs NATO to stay in Afghanistan so it can continue to scare its people into obedience with an external threat.

[Shroom Man 777]

It's an inverse Saddam, then. When Saddam was fighting its enemies (Iran), the US supported it. When Saddam was fighting its friends (Kuwait), the US fought against it. Likewise, when the Taliban was fighting Iran's enemies (US), Iran supported it. When the Taliban was fighting Iran, Iran fought against it.

Except, in Iran's case, this happened in reverse chronological order! TIME PARADOX!

[Pelranius]

Or some element of the Iranian government is trying to support one faction of the Taliban. The Tehran regime has a lot of factions always jockeying with each other for the upper hand. I am surprised the Taliban would be willing to accept Iranian aid, considering what they think of the Sh'ia Muslims and its not like they have such a hard time finding supplies and all.

[Kamakazie Sith]

I optimistically hope that Iran will also sell/provide MANPADs and manportable SAMs to the Afghanistan freedom fighters. Shiek Charlie Al-Wilson's War?

You realize that MANPAD stands for Man Portable Air Defense System, or man portable SAMS, right?

Also, so just I'm clear you're hoping that Iran will sell those systems to the Taliban and other organizations which are fighting against US forces?

[MKSheppard]

We clearly need to sell five billion tanks to the outlaw terrorist organization that operates in Iran in response. I forget their name, but Iran absolutely hates them, and we consider them terrorists too.

[Lord of the Abyss]

We clearly need to sell five billion tanks to the outlaw terrorist organization that operates in Iran in response. I forget their name, but Iran absolutely hates them, and we consider them terrorists too.

And we've supported them for years already. So, nothing changes ( except they end up with lots of tanks they don't know how to use and that are easy targets ). You can't threaten Iran with retaliation in kind when we are already doing it.

[Siege]

The reason why I find this whole thing bizzare is that when the Taliban where the enemies of the Iranian regime when they were in power.

Not that bizarre, I hope. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is hardly a revolutionary concept, after all.

[Phantasee]

I optimistically hope that Iran will also sell/provide MANPADs and manportable SAMs to the Afghanistan freedom fighters. Shiek Charlie Al-Wilson's War?

You realize that MANPAD stands for Man Portable Air Defense System, or man portable SAMS, right?

Also, so just I'm clear you're hoping that Iran will sell those systems to the Taliban and other organizations which are fighting against US forces?

I'm pretty sure that's what Shroomy meant, yeah. I think the general idea behind most of Shroom's posts is to give us an idea of what it would be like if other countries treated the US the same as the US treats them. Golden rule, and all.

This is why I love him, of course.

[Shroom Man 777]

We can cheer the glourious freedom-fighting mujahadeen shooting down Hinds Apaches! Then Al-Stallone can side with the glourious mujahadeen and he can kill some evil Americans with exploding arrows and gut them with giant knives. JOHN SHROOMBO

(EDIT: Haha, and see! We can totally emulate the scene where Rambo is tortured by Russians, except this time with Americans! Replace electrocution with water boarding and fake menstrual blood and viola!)

Then after the Americans are defeated and leave with their tails tucked, Iran can cut funding and Afghanistan returns back into the feudal shitpiece-ruled shithole that it once was. I mean, the Russians/Americans tried to bring some secular communist/capitalist civility to the place so women wouldn't be fucking stoned to death, but that was contrary to American/Iranian foreign interests. Tch. Too bad. At least we can cheer when Russian/American soldiers are killed by brutal savage terrorist rebels, because widowed Russian/American wives and fatherless families are totally fun.

Phantasee is very astute.

[stormthebeaches]

The Iranian regime is would not support the Taliban to get NATO out of Afghanistan, Obama has already set a deadline to pull soldiers out of the country. The real reason the Iranian regime would support the Taliban would be to destabilize Afghanistan, thus forcing NATO to stay in the country. With NATO forced to stay in the country, the Iranian regime continues to have a foreign boogeyman to scare their people with.

This is assuming that it is the actual regime supporting the Taliban and not, say, a few corrupt Iranian officials seeing an opportunity to make money.

[Shroom Man 777]

The latter would actually be more likely. I mean, it's not like the Reagan regime supported Iran and not, say, a few corrupt Oliver Norths seeing an opportunity to make money.

[stormthebeaches]

The latter would actually be more likely. I mean, it's not like the Reagan regime supported Iran and not, say, a few corrupt Oliver Norths seeing an opportunity to make money.

You got the whole Iran/Contra affair wrong. The primary goal of it was to raise money for the Contras, a terrorist group in central American that was harassing the local government. Reagan very much supported the actions of the Contras but Congress voted against funding them. So Reagan had the CIA take part in a variety of illegal methods of money raising, from drug dealing to selling arms to Iran. Arming Iran was a means to an end, rather than a goal itself.

[Shroom Man 777]

So we've still got Oliver Norths seeing an opportunity to make money... for the Contras.

[stormthebeaches]

Well, I suppose that's one way of putting it.

[Flagg]

The Iranian regime is would not support the Taliban to get NATO out of Afghanistan, Obama has already set a deadline to pull soldiers out of the country. The real reason the Iranian regime would support the Taliban would be to destabilize Afghanistan, thus forcing NATO to stay in the country. With NATO forced to stay in the country, the Iranian regime continues to have a foreign boogeyman to scare their people with.

This is assuming that it is the actual regime supporting the Taliban and not, say, a few corrupt Iranian officials seeing an opportunity to make money.

It also keeps NATO bogged down in Afghanistan so that they do not have the resources freed up to attack Iran.

[Kamakazie Sith]

I optimistically hope that Iran will also sell/provide MANPADs and manportable SAMs to the Afghanistan freedom fighters. Shiek Charlie Al-Wilson's War?

You realize that MANPAD stands for Man Portable Air Defense System, or man portable SAMS, right?

Also, so just I'm clear you're hoping that Iran will sell those systems to the Taliban and other organizations which are fighting against US forces?

I'm pretty sure that's what Shroomy meant, yeah. I think the general idea behind most of Shroom's posts is to give us an idea of what it would be like if other countries treated the US the same as the US treats them. Golden rule, and all.

This is why I love him, of course.

Sure, but I'd rather it be done without wishing for actions that can possibly lead to the death of my friends. I just wanted clarification though. It boarders on the fucked up side of wishful thinking.

[Phantasee]

You misunderstand, I think. At the end of the day, Shroom does not get any weird sense of joy from Americans dieing. I'm sure he is affected by every death in the same way, whether the coffin is draped in an American flag, Soviet flag, or Afghani flag. He does not wish for the deaths of your friends, he wishes that your friends were not put in a position where they have to risk death. This means that other people are also not put in a position where they have to deal with an increased risk of death due to some foreign country deciding its national interests require it to subject a large number of people to that increased risk of death.

Shroom's message is of peace, and of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.


Shroom, did I get that right? I don't want to misrepresent you, but I'm just stating my perception of your motives.

[Shroom Man 777]

That's true. Every dead soldier is a dead father, dead husband, dead son, dear brother, dead friend. People who celebrate dead Russians or brown-skinned soldiers or yellow-skinned chinky-eyed Charlies don't seem realize that. People who chalk up vaporized non-combatants or napalm-incinerated people as "collateral damage" don't appreciate that.

At least, not until it's their own fathers, husbands, sons, brothers and friends who are getting their guts ripped to pieces by IEDs.

So there's a fundamental deficiency of empathy in this world. You can dehumanize the death of fathers, husbands, sons, brothers and friends when it's happening to someone else, just because their skin is brown and they make stupid-sounding prayers five times a day while kneeling on rugs in dick-shaped minarets. They don't realize that each death, for these people, is no different from every American joe who comes home in a wooden box draped with the stars and stripes, rolled down from a C-17 transport with a stupid-dressed honor guard blowing dumb trumpet horns and presenting arms. This lack of empathy makes it trivially easy for people to cheer for dead brown people, for "freedom" or "democracy" or American foreign fucking interests, because they never know what it feels like if these actions are done back to them - if they're the ones who are subject to this same treatment that they apply to other people.

So I'm just trying to share. Because I care.

Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, right? It's the Christianly Confucianist thing to do!

[Ilya Muromets]

Sure, but I'd rather it be done without wishing for actions that can possibly lead to the death of my friends. I just wanted clarification though. It boarders on the fucked up side of wishful thinking.

It's not wishful thinking. Like Phantasee said, at the core of it all, Shroomy makes such statements in a satrical manner.

Shroomy may seem all fun and games (with a hint of crazy) at times, but he's rather serious about topics like this. He's especially cynical about realpolitk and expresses such cynicism through irony and sarcasm.