(The Dispatch) Danielle Pletka - The trope that Shiite Iran is a natural enemy to the Sunni Taliban in Afghanistan is rubbish. The Taliban victory in Afghanistan is a gift to Iran. Both Sunni and Shiite fundamentalists allow for both religious and political expediency in pursuit of a higher goal. In the West, this is called realpolitik. Despite ostensible support for the U.S.-backed government in Afghanistan, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) began feeding weapons to the Taliban and other anti-government forces inside Afghanistan, and provided an escape route for al-Qaeda members fleeing the U.S. war in Afghanistan. Tehran had no interest in seeing a stable, pro-American government to its east. Tehran permitted Taliban training camps inside its borders and provided light arms, rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs), and military training for Taliban forces on Iranian soil. The Iranian government was also paying Taliban salaries. The writer is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
2021-09-30 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive