Tehran buddies as much as the Taliban

During talks in Tehran, Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran, advised a Taliban delegation: “The US strategy supports the continuation of violence and war between Afghan groups within the political spectrum,” in accordance with Iran’s state information company IRNA.
In flip, Abdul Ghani Baradar, the Taliban’s political bureau chief, didn’t mince his phrases: “We don’t trust the United States and we will fight any group that supplies mercenary services for the US.”
He additionally accused the previous Trump administration of failing to behave constructively in accordance with its settlement signed with the Taliban after drawn-out negotiations in Doha in February 2020.
Talks between the Taliban and Iran are not uncommon however they don’t seem to be a foregone conclusion both. Relations between the 2 sides haven’t all the time been as shut as they’re now. On the opposite, each events have been lethal enemies not so way back. In 1998, Iran practically launched a army offensive towards the Taliban after Afghani militants and Pakistani fighters killed 11 Iranian residents, together with a number of diplomats within the northern Afghan metropolis of Mazar-i-Sharif.
Seeking and discovering new companions
And after the phobia assaults on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, Iran supported the United States in its battle towards the Taliban. The Americans recognized al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden as the person chargeable for 9/11. At the time he was dwelling in Afghanistan and Taliban leaders refused at hand him over, prompting the US, along with Afghan fighters, to wage a battle to topple the Taliban regime.
But the Taliban continued to combat towards the brand new Western-backed authorities in Kabul and towards the Afghan military and its NATO allies. The militant extremists have been financed by Saudi Arabia and later, after the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, by non-public fundamentalist foundations.
Riyadh solely lower off funding after Washington put the Saudi kingdom and its shut allies within the area beneath rising strain. Subsequently, the Taliban began on the lookout for a brand new associate, discovering it in Iran.
Shia-Sunni marriage of comfort
At first, that new relationship didn’t look too promising. In phrases of religion alone, the 2 sides — though each Muslim — are as distant from each other as doable.
While Iran regards itself because the protector and chief of the Shiites, the Taliban stand for a radical Sunni interpretation of Islam. But this diametrical opposition not performs a job, in accordance with Hamidreza Azizi from the German Institute for Security and International Affairs (SWP) in Berlin.
“On the contrary, it has become apparent that both sides are taking a very pragmatic approach. From an Iranian viewpoint, the Taliban are simply too influential to ignore. Conversely, the Taliban have not dropped their radical convictions but they have also shown themselves willing to play a political role. That is also clear from their talks with the United States about the future of Afghanistan. And that, in turn, is a reason for Iran to retain contact with the Taliban.”
And by no means has this been extra evident than over the past two years as tensions with the US have escalated within the wake of the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal. “That development is another reason Tehran does not want to lose its contacts with Afghanistan,” mentioned Azizi. This, nonetheless, has not stopped the Iranian authorities from sustaining diplomatic relations with the official authorities in Kabul.
“The Iranian leadership is clearly of the opinion that without contacts to all the various parties and players in Afghanistan their interests could be imperiled if there is a shift of power in the future,” Azizi added.
Common entrance towards ‘IS’
Iranian and Taliban representatives have met repeatedly for this very cause. And that’s not all. Tehran additionally provides the Taliban with weapons. According to stories within the net journal “War on the Rocks,” senior Iranian politician Ali Shamkhani admitted this reality to the Afghan authorities on December 2018. The journal quoted him as saying that they have been “only small arms, not combat weapons.”
At the time, Shamkhani mentioned the arms served to extend the protection of the Taliban within the Iranian-Afghan border area. There are quite a few smugglers within the area and there are frequent unlawful border crossings. Various rival Sunni militant teams, such because the Jundullah, are additionally energetic within the space.
Iran and the Taliban share a slew of widespread pursuits. Both are striving to attain the entire withdrawal of the US army from Afghanistan and each are preventing towards the so-called Islamic State (IS) terror group, which has additionally gained a foothold in Afghanistan.
“Iran is concerned that continuing instability in Afghanistan would give IS and other radical groups more room to maneuver and potentially endanger the security of Iran’s eastern borders,” says Hamidreza Azizi. He says that’s the reason Tehran sees it as crucial to press the Afghan authorities and the Taliban to succeed in a compromise.
Snuggling as much as the Taliban not widespread at residence
The US authorities, too, is pursuing the identical aim. Striving to attain a nationwide peace answer was a part of the US deal reached with the Taliban in February 2020. However, within the mild of the continued violence, US President Joe Biden’s administration has already indicated that it intends to assessment the settlement reached beneath Trump. That may postpone the entire pull-out of US troops from Afghanistan indefinitely. The bellicose statements from Iran and the Taliban at their talks in Tehran could possibly be a response to that risk.
SWP’s Azizi is uncertain that Iranian and Afghan residents are enthusiastic concerning the buddying up between Tehran and the Taliban. “The approach might serve the security interests of Iran and preserve its influence in Afghanistan but it comes at the cost of grave damage to its image among its own population,” says the Iran professional.
And the Taliban’s involvement in persevering with violence in Afghanistan, he provides, means most Afghans additionally oppose the militant group’s relations with Iran.