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TechnoratiUS Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran
WASHINGTON - The Barack Obama
administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge
that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban
in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which
has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.
The new twist in the
charge is that it is being made in the context of serious talks between
NATO officials and Iran involving possible Iranian cooperation in
NATO's logistical support for the war against the insurgents in
Afghanistan.
Since
the early to mid-1990s, Iranian policy in Afghanistan has been more
consistently and firmly opposed to the Taliban than that of the United
States.
The Obama administration thus appears to be pressing
that charge as a means of increasing the political-diplomatic pressure
on Iran over its nuclear programme, despite NATO's need for Iranian
help on Afghanistan.
CENTCOM commander Gen. David Petraeus
declared in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Apr.
1, "In Afghanistan, Iran appears to have hedged its longstanding public
support for the Karzai government by providing opportunistic support to
the Taliban."
Defence Secretary Robert Gates told reporters in
Brussels Jun. 12, "Iran is playing a double game" in Afghanistan by
"sending in a relatively modest level of weapons and capabilities to
attack ISAF (International Security Assistance Force) and coalition
forces."
The State Department's annual report on terrorism,
published Apr. 30, 2009, claimed that the Iranian Qods Force had
"provided training to the Taliban on small unit tactics, small arms,
explosives and indirect fire weapons." It also charged that Iran had
"arranged arms shipments including small arms and associated
ammunition, rocket propelled grenades, mortar rounds, 107mm rockets,
and plastic explosives to select Taliban members."
The report
offered no evidence in support of those charges, however, and Rhonda
Shore, public affairs officer in the State Department's Office of the
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, refused to answer questions from IPS
about those charges in the report.
A military official who
refused to be identified told IPS the charge of Iranian assistance to
the Taliban is based on "an intelligence assessment", which was limited
to "suspected" Iranian shipment of arms to the Taliban and did not
extend to training. That admission indicates that the charge of
shipments of weapons to the Taliban by Iran is not based on hard
evidence.
The only explicit U.S. claim of specific evidence
relating to an Iranian arms shipment to insurgents in Afghanistan has
been refuted by data collected by the Pentagon's own office on
improvised explosives.
In an April 2008 Pentagon news briefing,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen said in
reference to Iranian authorities, "[W]e're seeing some evidence that
they're supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan".
When pressed by
reporters for the evidence, however, Mullen admitted that there was no
"constant stream of arms supply at this point" and that the basis for
the charge was primarily "evidence some time ago" that Iranians were
providing amour-piercing EFPs (explosively formed projectiles) to the
Taliban.
That was a reference to a July 2007 allegation by the
U.S. command in Afghanistan, under obvious pressure from the White
House, that Iranian-made EFPs had appeared in Afghanistan.
Col.
Tom Kelly, a U.S. deputy chief of staff of the ISAF, told reporters
Jul. 18, 2007 that five EFPs that had been found in Herat near the
Iranian border and in Kabul were "very sophisticated", and that
"they're really not manufactured in any other places other than, our
knowledge is, Iran".
That was the same argument that had been
used by the U.S. command in Iraq to charge Iran with exporting EFPs to
Shi'a insurgents there.
But in response to a query from this
writer last July, the Pentagon's Joint Improvised Explosive Device
Defeat Organisation (JIEDDO), which is responsible for tracking the use
of roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, provided the first hard data
on EFPs found in Afghanistan. The data showed that there was no
connection on which to base even an inferential connection between
those EFPs and Iran.
Every one of the 13 EFPs reported to have
been found in Afghanistan up to that time were "crude and
unsophisticated", according to Irene Smith, a spokesperson for Gen.
Anthony Tata, JIEDDO's deputy director for operations and training. In
fact, the insurgents in Afghanistan had not shown the ability to make
the kind of EFPs that had been found in Iraq, Smith said.
The
U.S. command in Afghanistan, moreover, does not appear to be an
enthusiastic supporter of the administration's political line on the
issue. NATO officials began a serious dialog with Iran last March which
focused on the possibility of moving supplies for NATO troops to
Afghanistan from Iranian ports.
At an off the record seminar
in Washington last month, a senior U.S. military officer in Afghanistan
said the Iranian policy toward Afghanistan is neither a "major problem"
nor a "growing problem" for the war against the Taliban, according to
one of the attendees.
The lack of enthusiasm of the U.S. command
in Afghanistan for charges of Iranian support for the Taliban suggests
that the impetus for such charges is coming from those in the
administration who are trying to ramp up the overall pressure on Iran
to make concessions on its nuclear programme.
Gilles Doronsoro,
a specialist on Afghanistan and visiting scholar at the Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace in Washington, says he sees sharp
differences between the position of those responsible for Afghanistan
and those whose primary concern is Iran's nuclear programme.
"You
have one discourse of officials in Afghanistan, who would support
collaboration with Iran," Doronsoro said in an interview with IPS.
"It's very clear that those people don't want a crisis with Iran and
don't want to push Iran too far."
But those who want to put
pressure on Iran to stop its enrichment programme, he said, "are acting
as though they are building some kind of legal case against Iran."
The
Bush administration initially claimed it had evidence of Iranian aid to
the Taliban in 2007 that didn't exist, only to have it refuted by the
U.S. command in Afghanistan.
In April and May 2007, NATO
forces in Helmand province found mortars, C-4 explosives and electrical
components believed to have been manufactured in Iran. Then
Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns asserted
that the United States had "irrefutable evidence" that those weapons
were provided to the Taliban by the Qods Force of Iran's Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps.
When State Department spokesman
Sean McCormack was questioned about the Burns statement on Jun. 13,
2007, McCormack admitted that the charge was an inference.
Gen.
Dan McNeill, then the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, rejected the
idea that any official Iranian role could be reasonably inferred from
Iranian weapons showing up in Afghanistan.
"[W]hen you say
weapons being provided by Iran, that would suggest there is some more
formal entity involved in getting these weapons here," he told Jim
Loney of Reuters. McNeill said he had "no information to support that
there's anything formal in some arrangement out of Iran to provide
weapons here."
The obvious alternative explanation for Iranian
weapons in arms shipments is that drug lords and the Taliban have used
commercial arms smugglers to get the weapons from Iran into the
country. Arms dealers have close ties with Afghan officials, and have
been reported to use police convoys to carry smuggled arms, according
to a BBC2 television report last September.
*Gareth Porter is an
investigative historian and journalist specialising in U.S. national
security policy. The paperback edition of his latest book, "Perils of
Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam", was
published in 2006.
23 Comments so far
Show AllA leader of any country becomes our leaders enemy if they don't bow to our demands, and all the pressure will be on that country, like Iraq, until destroyed, and thousands killed. Our president condemn only the Dictictors who the US can't control, that makes the US the Dictators. Hitler set out to conquer Europe, and the Bush/Israel regime the Middle East. Obama follows. At the moment, choas still in Iraq, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and now Iran. The never ending story of conquest for power, and control, and we call ourselves Christians, of love, peace, and understanding, and freedom. Our troops are made to believe they are fighting for the freedom of others, but it is the freedom the US wants to control the Middle East. We the people need to take a stand and say, no more. I do wonder if there will be another castatrophe, to "Blame Iran", that will create another war?
We all know the truth, the right wing war mongering neocons plan for democratic imperialism has sucked the world into an evil global third world war.
What the hell really happened on 9/11, who funded the terrorists, what was in those buildings that needed to be destroyed and how well did that all play into creating a world war and financial colapse.
The Taliban we are fighting are the same Taliban we supported with arms and money to oust the Russion army.
The Bush family had Taliban leaders and Osama Bin Lauden come to America to talk shop in the 90s when they were trying to help Unocal put in an oil pipiline through Afghanistan. Which the Taliban denied, and cuased a lot of very powerful oil people to have fits.
The facts are clear, we are not fighting terrorists , we are fighting people who we forced out of thier country , that we once helped win a war against Russia.
We trained them and gave them weopons to defeat Russia. And now these very same warriors are getting weapons from our enemys to defeat us.
WHY ??? Beacause truth be told, they think Americans are terrorists, and I cant think of a better reason to defend my country or familiy , can you?
We are in it up to our eye balls now, and Obama does not have much of a choice, he must bring stabilty to the region, if possible.
While this stink pot of neocon crap ferments, we have a huge problem at home.We have a right wing stazi police network of gang stalking vigilantes nation wide causing all kinds of terror against opponents of the military indutrial complex neocon take over of our country.
Its been identified and stopped, only because the country has seen the truth and was able to elect a Democrat, by a magority, thank God.
Its going to take years to undo this evil " Patriot Act" spy machine. But it will get undone, and their is going to be a full accounting of gang stalking Domestic teorrist activity brought to the American public.
The department of homeland security should be concerned, this is a huge right wing vigilante group that has gained a great deal of unchecked power. They can destroy peoples lives nation wide, any body, I dont care who you are, if they want you gone, your gone.
But lets not pretend that the DHS knows nothing about this group, cause they not only know, its there x-agents that have gone out and trained these whack jobs with CIA gang stalking and co-intel pro tactics.
So, the DHS more than know the dangers that this network of stazi thugs poses to them and the government if thier loyaltys could be changed.
BornFreeMen
No, I am not crazy, the truth is alomost here, and when it comes out , you will be shocked at how close we came to a complete right wing military industrial complex take over of our country.
Excuse me........We had a "Coup" in the United States in the year 2000.....Al Gore was not allowed to be president because he was not ready to go along with "The Invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan."......The Constitution and the "Rule of Law" was demonstrated with Al Franken's Senate Seat.......The U.S. Supreme Court had no right to stop a a "Florida Recount of the 2000 Election."
So, the Iranians are sending the Sunni Taliban weapons as the Saudis are sending weapons, money, and more fighters.........Does that make any sense?
Only the U.S. Government has a propaganda machine that spans the world...
Saddam Hussein was recruited by the CIA in 1959 and ran a "Proxy War" for the United States against Iran through the 80's......
Al Qaeda was formed in the 80's by the CIA and continued to be supported by the CIA through the 90's and has always been supported by Saudi Arabia......
Taliban is a religious sect supported by the U.S. and Saudi Arabia and was put in power with the agreement that Unocal would have the "Oil Pipeline Contract"....When the Taliban changed their minds and gave the contract to Bridas Oil of Argentina, "The Plan For A New American Century" was proposed and within it the Invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq.........
Are you crazy? Not !!!! The CIA and its "Off Book Agents" have been doing the work of "The Power Elite" for decades and "They" could care less about the American People or "Human Rights"......."Greed and Power"
Confidence-building actions of a nation which has lost all moral credit in the democratic world.
My sympathy to all the perpetrators of the "great games", and their victims and their slaves. An even greater evolutionary flaw than deity worship.
All lies all the time. These people are shameless in their fabrications. It turns my stomach every time I hear one of them speak or read what one of them has said.
Its just LIES.
I got so sick of the neverending lies that I unpluged my TV - last year.
Where are all these fabrications of Biblical proportions coming from? AIPAC?
Where do the lies come from?????
The very same right wing religous lunatics who use the bible as an exucse or shield for thier shamless actions.
Fake Christian Govermnet leaders and extreme right wing ministers who blame abortion, the gay and lesbians community for americas moral downfall.
So these self rightous holyier than thow freaks want to impose morality on the rest of us.
Our founding fathers were correct,,, seperation of church and state protects us from these right wing religous nuts who think that there life style is the only one that counts.
Here is a bumper sticker slogan I saw the other day on one of these nut jobs cars.
" Stand Up For America"
Question I had was this ? Which America??
War Mongering America?
Fear Mongering America?
God loving America?
Gay loving America?
Jesus loving America?
Buda loving America?
Peace loving America?
Atheist loving America?
Dog loving America?
Cat loving America?
New World Order loving America?
Shipping American jobs over seas loving America?
No health care for the poor loving America?
Support your troops loving America?
United we stand loving Americans?
American Flag loving Americans?
People who put stupid bumper stickers on cars loving America.
How about Melting pot of free thinking minds loving America?
Here, I will stand up for all Americans when I say, war is evil, and we should avoid it at all costs. Its a simple statment of truth and logic.
The bible is the last book we need to turn to to tell us how America should be run, for all the obvious reasons.
WE THINK, therefore we are free to read the other billion books of life and knowlage on the planet.
We have no room for close minded, brainwashed idiots in this country, the last 35 years of Republican rule should be enough eveidence for you.
BornFreeMen
Gang stalking victim 2.7 years, by right wing religous vigilante lunatics lead by the IAFF and EMS employees of my town.
It does not matter what I have done, or that I am innocent of what ever it is that is causing these freaks to terrorize me, I will not be given a chance to defend myself in a court of law, and counter sue for damages. They will not be wrong, and they will frame me if needed, of that , I am sure.
Mid-evil which hunting and burning is back, and being lead by right wing christian lunatics, who are the judge , jury and executioners.
Four more years of the same-same-same. Today news comes of Orbwell's 'Daily Prayers' on his blackberry.
I ran PoliticalVideos at Youtube for 3 years, which was great for so many people and i had many discussions daily... Until I encountered a U.S. Preacher called Johhny Lee Clary. On his Youtube channel he made a video,speaking for 10 minutes and calling for the assassination of Iran's President, The Ayatollah, the Mullahs and top clerics in Iran. I re-uploaded his video, calling it' Radical U.S. Preacher Calls for Assassination of Ahmadinejad' .
Johnny Lee Clary complained to Youtube and my channel was suspended...
In accordance to my studies of Court Administration,Court Principles and Practices and The Legal System, the incitement of murder/assassination of top world leaders is highly illegal, an offense which would usually carry imprisonment, and it is obvious that many in the U.S. and around the World think it is okay to create negativity,conflict and mayhem.
Why incite violence, racism and murder against World leaders? That's what the Iranian Government are going on about...I flagged the video and brought it to the attention of media in Iran, and I do not blame Iranian leaders for accusing Western countries for inciting riots in Iran's elections. It is idiots like Clary who call for murder in another country that leads to breakdown in relations, and they only bring about paranoia, bad feelings and violence.
In most of my discussions online I get positive feedback 99% of the time, but the 1 percent of violent comments come from Americans, not Iranians or from other nations.
Johnny Lee Clary has since removed his video because i informed him of his crime, yet my channel is still suspended.Youtube allowed his video to remain online for about a year-t hat says a lot about the racist, pro-violent attitudes within Youtube , and which stretch far and wide.
Why should i be suspended and a thug calling for murder of World Leaders be allowed to keep his?
Wake up and smell the burning coffee people, Iran is going through their own political unrest within their own political system, and there are many who want to see Iran topppled, out of misunderstanding and racism, hate and violence. Leave Iran alone, let them sort their own problems.
P.S. George Bush apparantly won power by the removal of votes in the U.S in 2001 and again in 2004... Britain has a Prime minister who NOBODY got a chance to vote for- Prime Minister Gordon Brown was voted into power by his own politicians, the public were not given a chance to vote whatsoever. And look what a mess they've got us all into... Back in 1997 Prime Minister Brown was head of the U.K. Treasury and he invented the tripartite financial system which was set up to monitor and report activities of our banks (to make sure they don't lend or borrow billions and also to prevent money filtering through to tax havens). A similar financial regulatory system was introduced in the U.S.A, but both have obviously failed, $30trillion was wiped off the value of the $60 trillion dollar industries worldwide because of the LACK OF CREDIT CONTROL...
So who's worse, an Iranian President who the West just doesn't like for no apparant reason or a fool who invades and destroys Iraq for oil, construction and security company contracts or a fool who created a financial regulatory system that actually ALLOWED MASS CORRUPTION to occur and assisted in the 50 percent loss of industry value WORLDWIDE???
Russell Wyllie of Dailymotion.com/Politicalvideos
We, the USA have a real hard time looking in the mirror. We are so ready to condemn other countries while we are the cause of so many atrocities! All of this violence is disgusting. Our country has millions employed in the arms industry. This is how we feed, house and clothe our loved ones. How do we look in the mirror and see ourselves? It would show us as ugly, greedy, hateful beings!
I don't know what's going on with Washington or Iran, but the way the Iranian thugs (pardon, leaders) reacted to hundreds of thousands of their people taking to the streets, I wouldn't put anything past them. Sorry, I can't get the picture of that dying girl out of my head. I'm sure there are a lot of other people with the same problem. It's right in there, along with the dying students at Kent State and the burning child in Vietnam.
George put a hundred dead afghan children burnt from white phosphorous in your head and you might have a more balanced picture of reality and less brainwashing.
Israel has been doing its utmost to get the U.S. to attack Iran. When you're forming judgments about what's happening in the world, remember to ask yourself why some suffering is presented to you on national tv every five minutes, and other suffering never makes the news. Ask yourself how you're being manipulated, and why.
Here's another unforgettable picture:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2009/05/
2009514144415929204.html
It's the story of a Palestinian baby who died waiting for Israel to allow him to be treated for an easily-repaired cardiac defect.
It's easy to find unforgettable videos and pictures on the internet of Israeli "settlers" (land thieves) attacking Palestinian farmers, and of the devastation Israel continues to cause in Gaza, and of the Palestinian homes Israeli troops destroy every day. But although Israel commits atrocities against Palestinians on a daily basis, our corporate media doesn't report on them, and that's why we don't have "unforgettable" pictures of Palestinian suffering in our minds and hearts.
I join you in grief for the Iranian girl who was killed. But I think believing the U.S. media about what is happening in Iran, and how the U.S. should respond, would be a big mistake.
Do you really believe that the American thugs (pardon, leaders) who control this country would act any differently if American citizens rose up to change our system?
Actually, our thugs would react differently. They have much more lethal weapons.
I am really tired of this "Iran is the enemy" argument.
Adopting the "crazy President tactic" now ain't fooling anybody.
"The world is run by old men and oil companies"
Gosh, between the Israeli false flags, the CIA destabilization etc...
The only silver lining in the cloud is that we are pretty sure neither the CIA nor Mossad had any hand in the Iranian situation. Whatsoever. Mathematically impossible.
Even supposing the charge is not false, does the U.S. claim an exclusive right to provide military assistance to those with whom it perceives itself as sharing interests? Or is it because Iran is alleged to be doing so with a near neighbor while USA Incorporated's armaments enterprise enjoys legitimacy based on its global scope?
Good point. Perhaps the US is upset that someone is cutting into their business as the #1 arms merchant in the world. At the very least, if Iran wants to export arms, they should pay kickbacks to the US. Sort of like the way petty drug dealers pay off the mafia in order to be allowed to operate on their turf.
Exactly. If the Taliban are willing to buy weapons and Iran has those weapons why should they not be willing to sell it to the Taliban. The US has no shame in selling weapons to Israel which are then used to commit war crimes. This is a non issue. It is all in the aid of demonizing Iran - just as they did with Iraq all those many years ago. The claims against Iraq were all found out to be lies, why should the claims against Iran be any different. Whatever the US government says about other countries are flat out lies. They have absolutely no crediblity anymore. Nor should they.
Chirvan
Dollars to donuts we made those ordinance..
Yummm, donuts!