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Tehran Builds on Outreach to Taliban
(Wall Street Journal) Maria Abi-Habib - Iran has allowed the Taliban to open an office in eastern Iran and discussed providing them with surface-to-air missiles, ramping up the potential for cooperation with the insurgents, according to senior Afghan and Western officials. Iran, a Shiite theocracy which borders Afghanistan, wasn't friendly with the Sunni Taliban government ousted by the U.S. in 2001 and hasn't permitted an official Taliban presence in the country until now. But these days both sides "see America as the bigger enemy," a Western official in Kabul said. "Iran is willing to put aside ideology and put aside deeply held religious values...for their ultimate goal: accelerating the departure of U.S. forces from Afghanistan," the official said. The increase in Iranian support for the Taliban comes after Tehran failed to scuttle the U.S.-Afghan agreement in May, which establishes a long-term U.S. military presence there post-2014. Afghanistan's intelligence service in July said Iran was sending infiltrators into the country, coinciding with what Western and Afghan officials say is increased Iranian surveillance of coalition military bases and U.S. government infrastructure in Afghanistan.