#Long war journal afghanistan series#
Martin said that “control of Helmand, and particularly upper Helmand, where the Alizai, Noorzai and Ishaqzai tribes reside, means control of a series of dam canals-in fact built by in the 1950s-70s-that allow control of the output of the Helmand river, which empties into Iran’s Sistan region where it waters around a million people.” There are compelling economic and strategic reasons for these links. Mike Martin, a former British Army officer fluent in Pashto who has worked extensively in Helmand and written a book on the area titled An Intimate War, told Foreign Policy: “Iran has developed links over many years to multiple militant groups inside Helmand Province, with its allegiance changing depending on who has the upper hand in the province.” In 2016, Foreign Policy published a report quoting two unnamed Western officials as saying that Tehran was “providing Taliban forces along its border with money and small amounts of relatively low-grade weaponry like machine guns, ammunition, and rocket-propelled grenades.” The governor of the western Afghan province of Farah alleged the same year that training centers had been established inside Iran for the purpose of training would-be Taliban, and Iranian support was blamed for an uptick in violence that year. mission in the country, noting that “Russia, Iran, and al Qaeda are playing significant roles in Afghanistan.” commander in Afghanistan told Congress that Iran was supporting the Taliban to undermine the U.S. Multiple reports in recent years have accused Iran and its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of providing weaponry and training for the Taliban. They added that they had received information on Iranian fighters operating in Nimroz, Herat, and Helmand provinces in western and southwestern Afghanistan near the border with Iran. While I was reporting from Kandahar, multiple security officials told me that Iranian weapons had been found in the hands of killed Taliban fighters in the area. Several sources I spoke to on the ground across the country during a monthlong reporting trip between July and August this year said that Iran has played a major role in the conflict. officials say that Mullah Mansour regularly and freely traveled into and out of Iran.” As Foreign Policy reported in May 2016, “Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was killed in Pakistan by an American drone last weekend after leaving Iran, where his family lives. Iran has a long history of hosting both key al Qaeda members as well as Taliban leaders. 6 it seemed the capital of Nimroz province in western Afghanistan was about to fall and many of those afraid of the Taliban rushed toward the border to escape, Iranian officials instead reportedly refused entry to most of those fleeing.Ī major reason for Iranian support for the Taliban is Iran’s need for the water that flows into the country from across the border. When the Taliban took Afghanistan’s key Islam Qala border crossing with Iran on July 9, locals reported that Iranian officials on the other side welcomed them. 12, the man I interviewed was reportedly hanged. 2 interview held in a secluded location for on the outskirts of the city of Kandahar.Īfter the former Taliban capital fell once again to the Taliban on Aug. He was previously a commander near Herat” during the Taliban rule over Afghanistan between 19, the police chief-who requested anonymity for security purposes-told me in an Aug. “He has traveled back and forth from Iran for decades. KANDAHAR, Afghanistan-“He travels with Iranian bodyguards,” a tribal elder and local police chief alleged about a Taliban commander from his home district of Shah Wali Kot.