Written by Seyed Mohammad Marandi for Almayadeen and highly recommended by our regular Middle Eastern correspondent.
Iran has strong reason to believe that the sudden withdrawal of western forces was designed to create instability and chaos in Afghanistan.
Roughly 20 years ago, after the Taliban’s crushing defeat in Afghanistan and the complete withdrawal of support from Pakistan and Saudi Arabia under US pressure, the Quds Force began a dialogue with this seemingly diminished organization. At that time, many thought this to be a meaningless endeavor as the political landscape across the region was changing dramatically. The fact that the Taliban murdered 11 Iranian diplomats and a journalist inside the Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, would have made this new direction seem grossly inappropriate in the eyes of many in Tehran, if publicized.
The US invasion of Afghanistan, and subsequently Iraq, forced the Americans to stomach the presence and role of powerful Iranian allies in both countries. The US-led occupation forces lacked a coherent long-term strategy as well as allies, while important opposition leaders and military and political organizations were based in Tehran. In Afghanistan, the US had to turn to a coalition of political parties or the so-called Northern Alliance, which was struggling under tremendous pressure in their resistance against a foreign-backed brutal and ruthless Taliban.
Therefore, when the Taliban was defeated and remnant forces fled the country, Iranian allies took key positions in the Afghanistan government. There seemed to be no need or justification for dialogue with this seemingly spent force. However, General Qasem Soleimani believed that the Taliban continued to have popular support among a significant segment of the Pashtun tribes and populations in southern Afghanistan and parts of Pakistan, and he felt that the only path to long-term regional stability was for all the parties to engage in dialogue.
General Soleimani also believed that under such circumstances, the only force that was prepared to significantly drive up the cost of the US-led occupation, a key strategic Iranian objective, was the Taliban. He knew that under such circumstances the occupation of both Iraq and Afghanistan would gradually become extremely problematic and unpopular in western countries and that ultimately, such a huge burden would hit western economies hard and force them to withdraw their forces from both countries.
The objective of the Quds Force was to create mutual understanding and to encourage the more moderate factions within the fragmented Taliban to gain the upper hand. General Soleimani believed it was inevitable that foreign forces would at some point be forced to leave the country, and that following the country’s liberation, it was essential that Afghanistan isn’t pushed by the withdrawing occupation forces into another devastating civil war.
2011 was a significant turning point in the relationship, and high-ranking delegations began visiting Tehran. As time went by, the relationships became warmer and even personal, so much so that when General Soleimani, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandes and their companions were murdered at Baghdad International Airport by the Trump regime, a high ranking Taliban delegation traveled to Tehran and visited his house to pay condolences to his family.
While accusations of Iranian military support for the Taliban against Afghan government forces are completely baseless, there was one significant and revealing instance where the Taliban asked for Iranian assistance. Both Iranian intelligence and the Taliban knew that US-linked factions within the rapidly collapsing ISIS were extracted from Syria and inserted into Afghanistan. The Taliban asked the Quds Force to help it defeat what it saw to be an existential threat. Iran informed the Afghan government, which wasn’t particularly happy with such cooperation, but they didn’t object.
Ultimately, the Taliban made 4 commitments to the Quds Force.
- It would maintain stability on the border with Iran,
- it would not compromise on its opposition to the presence of any foreign forces,
- it would not target other ethnic groups or sects,
- and that “brothers wouldn’t kill brothers.”
While there are differing factions with very different views within the Taliban, the Iranian have assessed that during these years the current Taliban leadership has been committed to its promises.
This relationship has helped the Islamic Republic of Iran become an effective mediator in recent weeks and months, to ensure that the withdrawal of occupation forces doesn’t lead to civil war, and to prod the new government to be inclusive of all Afghans. Iran has strong reason to believe that the sudden withdrawal of western forces was designed to create instability and chaos in Afghanistan. The US believes that if it can’t have Afghanistan, then the country should become a source of persistent trouble for Iran, China, Russia and even India. Meanwhile, significant sums of money are currently being sent by Saudi Arabia and 2 other regional counties to support extremist takfirist factions within the Taliban. Iran isn’t naive, but doing what it can to prevent tragedy is a responsibility. If that doesn’t work, the Quds Force will vehemently support those resisting extremism and terrorism.
Iran is constantly working and negotiating with the different parties inside Afghanistan as well with neighboring countries, plus China and Russia, to block the efforts of those who are pushing for a return to the dark past. Iran’s imminent membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization will enhance its capability to coordinate international efforts in this regard.
General Soleimani is no longer among us, but his legacy continues to inflict blows on the dying US Empire.
Intriguing and encouraging if reliable. I would like to see corroboration from other sources. Also, how does this square with today’s Amnesty reports that Taliban fighters massacred and tortured Hazara men (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-58277463) after looting their homes–Hazara are mostly Shi’ite I understand.
I believe you answered your own question going by the source of the news link you posted. If you want to get real news, you have to avoid western MSM presstitute because they’re the fourth arm drivindriving the Western hegemonic machinery.
BBC does not count. It spreads Anglo Zionist propaganda.
I’ve always heard, and somewhat believed, that Amnesty has been coopted by the CIA. I use them as a source, or even read them, that it really isn’t an issue to me. They’re just like NPR, throw in a couple of truthful things and let the lies fly.
Both NPR and Amnesty are funded by George Soros.
“witnesses report”
Sorry pasha i can not take the bbc as a serious source, even the Gateway Pundit is more reliable.
And is in not quite convenient for the anglo narrative that these “witnesses report” how terrible and blood thirsty the Taliban is?
No videos i notice too, it probably happened in one of those backward regions where no one owns a cellphone with a camera.
“One eyewitness said they asked the fighters why they inflicted such brutality on their people”
“”When it is the time of conflict, everyone dies, it doesn’t matter if you have guns or not. It is the time of war,” a fighter allegedly said.”
I rest my case.
Per
If the BBC claims anything controversial, I would take that as a reason to believe the opposite until concrete proof emerges.
Yes, in fact when it comes to BBC news about any of the “non western friends” type nations, i always the opposite to be true
Nowadays BBC = (Soviet) Pravda, Pravda = BBC. Actually substitute BBC with MSM. Same, same.
It says in the text that they also killed Iranian diplomats.
The policy discussed here is based on long-term perspectives: what is good for Iran and the region in the long run.
You read that they are extremists within the Taliban movement. Atrocities will therefore happen. But they will not deter from seeking the greater good.
Sigh, please do not rely on a well known fake news source, the British Bull Corp, aka Blatant Biased Corp..
Thank you for your analysis professor Marandi. We need more analysis in English from inside Iran such as yours.
The void is being filled by the Anglo Zionist propagandists.
Social media and the airwaves sure are. I hadn’t realized how bad the BIMbonic plague had set in all round the Western world.
General Soleimani is no longer among us, but his legacy continues to inflict blows on the dying US Empire.
Respect!
I do think this is a going to be a big challenge for the taliban. Radical elements under the supervision of outside benefactors and instigators will try to cause serious disruption of the mutual agreements with that are currently in place. After twenty years and economic instability they are stretched quite thin in keeping control around the country.
The dragging out evacuation needs to be deadlined sooner and untrustworthy players kept out (Trky) firmly despite their feigned sincerity.
The good news is the talibs havent changed their stance but they are going to need help.
Good statement by Putin who seems to recognise the dangers.
https://www.rt.com/russia/532646-putin-taliban-afghanistan-merkel/
RT just gave snippets of Putin’s remarks – and not the most significant (as is often the case, as RT people seem to have a reading comprehension problem). The full text is here: http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66418
@Abdullah
What is your on Imrullah Saleh’s resistance movement in Panjshir? Reportedly, his fighters have taken 3 districts from the Taliban. There are reports that India is supporting the resistance movement.
He’s a dangerous man quite simply. He features heavily in the Indian press and was part of the undertaking to get the Indian govt to consider providing air support on the back of a Nato withdrawal. The Indian govt considered it too risky. He is close to Indian intelligence as he himself was prominent in the Afghan intelligence services. They enjoyed close cooperation. He left the karzai govt partly because of karzai”s willingness to want to negotiate with the taliban. No surprise he made a comeback in the Ashraf Ghani govt. Birds of a feather flock together. He was rather outlandish in his partisan statements, always voicing severe criticisms of Pakistan and brazenly lumping taliban and IS khorasan in the same boat. These claims are heavily entertained in the vast Indian press. He’s a full on trouble causer and an idiot to the point that he is now isolated in his very selfish position despite the obvious reality staring at him.
Now a fleeting rebel himself funnily enough, he is a minor headache to the overall positive developments. I believe he is a spark for creating uncertainty under the prevailing conditions. Has ties to nefarious intelligence agencys. However, I don’t think he presents anything more than a minor jab but useful in presenting a good story for western and Indian media.
After the complete withdrawal he may be left to cry in his secure location or sought after by the taliban as he is a wanted man pure and simple. He is no doubt responsibe for the deaths of taliban fighters under his tenure in the intelligence and NDS bureau. He may even be a useful patsy for the usual actors to decry the taliban’s reconciliation overtures.
I can’t verify the story of the recent ambush of taliban fighters as claimed in a few western press and many Indian press. I suspect his claims are somewhat exaggerated. But if there’s any truth in them he has signed a certain D warrant.
What’s-his-name is apparently holed up in Panjshir with Ahmad Shah Masoud’s son, a Zionist pawn.
The Talibs are offering a chance to dialogue with renegade Saleh. He can’t say later he wasn’t given a chance to get out of the mess he had put himself in.
Taliban hopes for peaceful solution to resistance in Panjshir – Russian ambassador
The Taliban do not want bloodshed and are committed to dialogue, Dmitry Zhirnov said
MOSCOW, August 21. /TASS/. A representative of the Taliban’s (outlawed in Russia) political office paid a visit to the Russian embassy in Kabul on Saturday, asking the Russian diplomats to inform the leaders of the remaining resistance center in Panjshir that the movement looks to dialogue and seeks a peaceful solution, Russia’s Ambassador to Afghanistan Dmitry Zhirnov said on the YouTube channel Solovyev Live on Saturday.
“We had a representative of the Taliban’s political office at the embassy today. Knowing that Russia enjoys big prestige with various political forces in Afghanistan, he asked us to convey a political signal to Panjshir,” he said.
“They asked us that Russia will give the following message to Panjshir leaders and people: the Taliban have not made a single attempt to enter Panjshir by force until now. The group hopes to find a peaceful solution to the situation, for example, through a political agreement. The Taliban do not want bloodshed and are committed to dialogue,” the diplomat said.
“The US believes that if it can’t have Afghanistan, then the country should become a source of persistent trouble for Iran, China, Russia and even India.”
Pepe Escobar wrote a book about this is broader strategy of weaponizing chaos to serve American imperial interests around the world.
He accurately called America, the Empire of Chaos.
However, the Anglo American Axis nations in general specialize in *chaos* everywhere they stick their bloody hands. Thus, the British, the Americans, the Canadians, and the Australians have all been occupying Afghanistan for years, dating back to launch of the original War on Terrorism decades ago.
America, Britain Canada, Australia first deploy their war criminal armies to wage wars of aggression based on lies–like counter-terrorism in Afghanistan.
And then, after years or decades of war and killing tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians, these Anglo Axis nations will “withdraw” their troops–but only to leave behind a parting gift of chaos and destruction to kill more people in the nation that they attacked.
The British partition of India/Pakistan, as a result of the British withdrawal from colonial India, is a model and template for this Machiavellian strategy, which continues today.
7 lies about Afghanistan
https://www.voltairenet.org/article213772.html
Afghanistan’s destabilization is ongoing
https://rainershea.com/f/afghanistan%E2%80%99s-destabilization-is-ongoinh
You are quite right in this analysis, as it is a defining feature of the capitalist empire to always wreck a country when it is being driven out and then use whatever criminal means at its disposal to reconquer that nation. It is a standard method which has always applied for hundreds of years without exception. The first cases being Ireland and America itself. Later followed by France and then a long long list.
Proof being that America itself now is carrying out this primary function of the Anglo-Zionist empire. America has been taken over again. The creation of the Federal Reserve in 1913 being but one feature of that reconquest. Now they call it a “special relationship”. England reconquered America and rules in stealth behind the scenes here. Note how freaked out the English are about all this. It has been their baby all along.
The Islamic scholars call America “the great Satan.” The death star is structured in America but it was really built by the English empire. A hostile alien force hypnotizes the Americans into thinking the empire is American, and everybody believes it. But that is the only way the empire can rule America, by making the people think that the empire is American. Then the patriots will be right where we want them. Fodder for the empire.
The US has been transferring takfiris from Syria to Afghanistan, presumably to try to destabilize the whole regiom – Russia’s southern flanks, China’s west borders, plus Iran. There will be lots of terrorist attacks, random shootings, IEDs in market, etc, blamed on the Taliban. The Taliban has no interest in such things as it needs stability with its neighbors if it wants to have any kind of future. SUch events will serve the US/Globalist interests, and be pimped by the USual suspects. I suspect some Indian exiles (opposing any deals with Russia and especially Pakistan) will form the equivalent of the Rita Katz ISIS PR outfit pimping the events for all they are worth.
As we speak somebody’s probably getting their start-up funds for the White Helmets Kabul franchise.
Thank you Saker for sourcing and posting this.
Thanks to author.
Interesting.
Also. Few commentators here give any credence to anything BBC CNN Guardian, or otherwise MSM.
And no. You will not see this article, or similar, anywhere in western media
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/afghanistan-taliban-iran-allies-soleiman-deals-relying-on
This is the Western media’s version of Marandi’s article.
It parrots the Amnesty report from BBC, and does its best to make it seem like the Taliban are not trustworthy or agreement capable.
But it does get a lot of things right. For example, the Taliban are Hanafi Sufi, they are not Salafi-Wahabi. But there are Salafi elements hiding among them, which the IRGC has been slowly but surely eradicating. The most prominent example being Mullah Manan Niazi, who was taken out in an operation by the Saberin Commando unit of the IRGC together with the Taliban themselves.
The message of the Niazi assassination is clear: Salafi elements will not be allowed to reach the top echelons of the Taliban power structure. Niazi died very slowly and painfully.
The Taliban and the IRGC share a common enemy in Afghanistan: ISIS. To me this means that regardless of what articles such as this one (the MEE article) say, the cooperation between the Taliban and the IRGC will continue.
Also, the article correctly states:
“The agreements included many items. Most notable was preventing the establishment of US military bases near the Iranian border, stopping drug smuggling into the Gulf region through Iran, increasing and raising the level of attacks targeting US forces deployed in Afghanistan, and completely halting attacks against Shia Afghans.
In return, Iran promised to provide unlimited financial and technical support to the Taliban. It sent Revolutionary Guard officers to train and advise Taliban fighters, and allowed them to establish camps and safe havens for the group’s leaders inside the Iranian border.”
And Mr Marandi states above:
“While accusations of Iranian military support for the Taliban against Afghan government forces are completely baseless, there was one significant and revealing instance where the Taliban asked for Iranian assistance. Both Iranian intelligence and the Taliban knew that US-linked factions within the rapidly collapsing ISIS were extracted from Syria and inserted into Afghanistan. The Taliban asked the Quds Force to help it defeat what it saw to be an existential threat.”
The Taliban and the IRGC have fought the US together, forcing it out of Afghanistan, and they have fought ISIS together, which they will continue to do.
The Muharram/Ashura mourning ceremonies of the Shias were held in Afghanistan last week, under Taliban protection, and they were concluded without incident.
Shias make up 20 percent of Afghanistan. All things considered, I don’t think the Taliban would ever want to alienate 20 percent of their population, and in the process make an enemy of the IRGC, the most powerful fighting force in the region, and make enemies of the Fatemiyoun, and the seemingly fanatical Iraqi PMUs who have a hair trigger and zero patience for their enemies these days, and are offering to go to Afghanistan and stir shit up there.
The Taliban have enough headaches, and a long way to go to securing Afghanistan. They will need help, first of all from Iran and the IRGC, and second from China. And in the process, the BRI line from China to Iran will also be established, which will bring much prosperity to Afghanistan, hopefully.
In ancient times, everyone along the Silk Road was benefiting from the trade going along the route. Perhaps the New Silk Road will be the answer to some of Afghanistan’s problems.
A couple years ago, on my way to Florida for the winter, I met a taxi driver who was from Afghanistan. As the ride to the airport was long we had a good chat. The taxi driver was an interesting fellow himself. About thirty years ago he left Afghanistan with his family to go to Russia. In Russia he started a business. He said the people there were very nice, but the government would not grant him citizenship. He felt he needed citizenship to be able to establish his family there. So, after a few stints throughout Europe, he found himself in the U.S.A.; in Virginia where I met him. He told me the people in Virginia were also very nice, and the government eventually gave him citizenship, and so he and the rest of his family settled in, and they all are doing well.
I asked him why he left Afghanistan in the first place. He described what I would call a multi-dimensional feud. Multiple actors, multiple sides. It was so bad he said from one day to the next one would not know what side they were on. One day they were fighting with these guys, next day they were fighting with the other guys, on the third day there was somebody else. The whole thing was simply too crazy to carry on any sort of reasonable family life so he left. I surmise it is probably still like that, and that all Afghans would like for it to stop. Does not sound like it will though as the article here suggests too many foreign powers still have their dirty claws in it all.
Thank you Seyed.
You have put this moment in the context of not just where the Taliban and the Afghan people have been leading up to it, but also in the context of what lies ahead, the ongoing struggle with the Empire and all of its corrupt and twisted agents and accomplices, and their readiness to pounce upon every fissure opened up by their inevitable contradictions and conflicts. So this is a moment of both great opportunity and great danger for Afghanistan, and for the world I daresay.
It seemed laughable when President Biden talked about the Taliban being confronted with an existential crisis. But perhaps, what he was doing was tipping the Empire’s hand as to their strategy. (He has always been a blabbermouth!) Without outside help in creating the vision of a united and independent state and making its achievement possible, and without their ruthlessly rooting out and at least isolating the Empire’s agents in their midst, the Taliban’s rule most probably would fracture. All the wisdom, patience, clarity, determination, generosity and diplomacy of their Chinese, Russian, Iranian, Pakistani and Central Asian friends will be needed to help them unite around a common vision, and to stand together in resisting all temptations, provocations, propaganda and obstacles the Empire will surely put in their way.
Biden, in his twisted way, is right in seeing that the illusion of having “arrived” will be profoundly dangerous to the Taliban – and will open up opportunities for the Empire. The alternative future Afghanistan’s neighbors under Russian Chinese and Iranian leadership are holding out is not one that will happen in the natural course of events, and not one the Empire with its roots in the past will expect. It will have to be struggled for.
Thank you for helping show this to us.
So let’s get all this straight, shall we?
1. The USA has such overwhelming firepower that it has used drone strikes for 2 decades to bomb whichever community in Afghanistan is chooses to, including wedding parties.
2. 20 years ago, it had enough fire power to use ‘bunker busters’ to obliterate a whole number of underground cave systems in Tora Bora.
3. It had the weaponry to reduce Libya to a medieval rump.
4. It has the finance to fund terror groups all over the globe, indeed it funded the forerunners to the Taliban in the 1980s in Afghanistan.
But now, in 2021, it is so pathetically feeble that it is ‘overcome’ by a bunch of Taliban bearded muftis?
This is in no way about military matters, all this can possibly be about is Grand Chess Board parlays.
We already see the ramping up of the ‘Taliban are the most evil rapists and murderers on planet earth’ in the Western Media. BS!! They may be a nasty piece of work, but they have nothing on Agent Orange, Operation Shock N Awe and dozens of other Western escapades.
The only questions that matter to the USA are these:
1. What happens to the opium trade?
2. What happens to the mining concessions?
3. What happens to all the funding for ‘security’ operations, for ‘aid operations’ etc etc?
Answer those, and then we can put together the reason for the theatre currently manifesting itself in the Western MSM.
This has increased my understanding. Thank you so much Seyed.
It’s interesting also how the US left all those billions of dollars of weaponry behind. This also looks suspicious to me. Flood the country with even more weaponry, knowing full well a lot of of it will find its way (no doubt with assistsnce!) into the hands of extremist groups such as Daesh. Just like they have previously done in Iraq and Syria, but on an even more grander scale.
Indeed. Thanks to reporter. An encouraging article, for sure.
The US/NATO Defeat in Afghanistan Is Also the Defeat of International Terrorism and Wahhabism
(Machine Translation From Original Portuguese Article)
Analysts from the Islamic Republic of Iran and I stress that these are really serious analysts – unlike the system’s “parrots” who daily opine in the Western media – believe that the hasty withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan was intended to purposely create instability in the country and consequently, launch it into civil war:
https://english.almayadeen.net/articles/analysis/the-flight-from-kabul-and-the-legacy-of-general-soleimani
The US never had any intention of seriously negotiating with the Taliban, in the sense of making a stable and beneficial transition of power for all parties. On the contrary, the way the US abandoned Bagram air base in the middle of the night and the way it literally turned its back on the puppet government that they themselves created, only proves and demonstrates beyond any doubt that the real plan from the USA to Afghanistan, was to launch anarchy and total civil war in it .
The US/NATO/EU and Israel are directly behind the creation of the “Islamic State” and the Iranian and Russian intelligence services have long known that the US withdrew elements of the “Islamic State” from Syria and Iraq, which they were later transported to Afghanistan, where the US planned to foment a devastating civil war between the “Islamic State” and the Taliban. Well, it is not necessary to be very intelligent to realize that the real targets to be achieved with this Machiavellian plan would be Russia, Iran and, above all, China . It seems, however, that this backfired on the US and in an authentic blitzkrieg, which was very quietly supported behind the scenes by Russia, China and Iran, the Taliban managed to dominate the situation and take control of virtually all of Afghanistan. Clearly, the civil war that the US planned to create in Afghanistan, is already a pipe dream and even the anti-Taliban resistance, is already collapsing completely…
The US/NATO defeat in Afghanistan is therefore, and also the defeat of international terrorism and Wahhabism.
The measured support that the Islamic Republic of Iran – through the Quds Force – has provided to the Taliban in recent years has been crucial to their success in defeating the “Islamic State” in Afghanistan and the US-led coalition of terror. It is a fact that the specter of General Soleimani continues to haunt the degenerate elite that rules the Empire and even after he is physically dead, Soleimani remains the main driving force behind the defeat of the US/NATO/EU and Israel in the Middle-Eastern region .
Link to original article: https://toranja-mecanica.blogspot.com/2021/08/a-derrota-dos-euanato-no-afeganistao-e.html