A short, surprise blog post from me on the possible implications for Iran regarding the situation in Afghanistan. I'm curious to hear how other members here think Iran should manage this.
What the fall of Afghanistan means for Iran
In 1998, 8 Iranian diplomats and a journalist at the Iranian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif were murdered by Taliban forces, which controlled the city at that time. What followed were months of tensions, with Iran deploying tens of thousands of troops and heavy weaponry at the border, and cross-border skirmishes breaking out. All out war however, was avoided.
As I write this piece, the Taliban are sweeping through Afghanistan. In the past 8 days, they have captured 16 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces and show no sign of slowing down. The Afghan National Army is crumbling, and the only foreign troops coming in are tasked with evacuating embassies.
View attachment 769481
Iranian tanks lined up on the Afghan border in 1998
For the full blog post, click the link below
Will the Taliban govern an actual country, or a terrorist fiefdom?
irangeomil.blogspot.com
Iran will be happy that Americans have left. Iran won't intervene in Afghanistan in any way as long as the Taliban abide by or work towards the following conditions.
1) Peace and stability on the Afghan-Iran border. No cross border raids and no mass exodus of immigrants into Iran.
2) Taliban do not harm Iranian diplomats. In Herat Iranian diplomats were not harmed in any way, which is a good sign.
3) Taliban do not harm or persecute Hazara or Shia people of Afghanistan.
4) Taliban work towards ending the drug trade which is extremely harmful to Iran.
Could you please from now on mention Iran's Sunni Muslim allies in Afghanistan alongside Shia ones?
Because:
1) It's simply a fact. To obfuscate it will result in distorting the actual reality.
Iran's partners in Afghanistan were
never limited to Shia groups. The Sunni Muslim, Persian-speaking Tajik community has always had close ties to Iran. Iran has a history of supporting Sunni Tajik movements, from Afghan mujahidin fighting Soviet occupiers in the 80's to Ismail Khan in Herat province and Iran-friendly Sunni currents all the way to Mazar-e Sharif. Very recently, Sunnis of Mazar-e Sharif put up a poster of Imam Khomeini (rA) at one of their gatherings.
2) Not mentioning this fact will lead some readers to gain a biased understanding of Iranian foreign policy and falsely assume it is sectarianist in nature when in fact the exact opposite is the case. We can see this in this thread again.
3) Iran's existential enemies (US and zionist regime) are banking on these misrepresentations.
Please pay attention to these important points. Thank you.
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As far as I am aware, the situation in Afghanistan is bad but still the sectarian issue is not a big one. I don't see daily killings of Shias just because they were Shias. So I think this is a little hypocrite on Iran's part that it want influence on states that have Shia population but won't accept any external influence on its own Sunni population.
Iran doesn't seek influence for the sake of having influence. But in order to drive out of the region foreign occupiers and to resist the zio-American empire.
Also, Iran's ties to Afghanistan having nothing to do with the Afghan Shia community alone. Please don't be misled. Iran has absolutely outstanding relations with a great many movements, organizations and individuals from the Sunni Muslim Tajik community of Afghanistan, which is Persian-speaking as you know, and even with some others. The US regime even accused Iran of supporting certain Taleban factions in their fight against occupation.
You took this sectarian shit to Yemen, Iraq and Syria already.
You are no USA. And even USA don't fight based on sectarianism and religion. They fight for their way of life, their influence and business.
No.
1) All three countries were already at war when Iran intervened.
2) In none of these countries does Iran pursue a sectarianist policy.
3) In all three countries, Iran's allies belong to both Shia and Sunni sects of Islam.
You already hiring Shias from Pakistan and Afghanistan in zainabeyun to fight on Iran's behalf in middle East.
And also recruiting Sunni Muslims into the PMU of Iraq. And also recruiting Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans into the PMU.
And also working with Sunni tribes of Deir ez-Zor. And also cooperating with the Syrian Arab Army, which has a significant proportion of Sunni Muslims in its ranks.
And also backing Ansarallah's Sunni Muslim partners in Yemen - whereas in that same country, several important Zaidi Shia tribes are in fact allied with the Saudi-backed camp.
don't tease nations to a level that they start retaliating. I consider Iran as a brother country but I won't want your sectarian shit to now hit Afghanistan after destabilising 3 Muslim nation's already.
Iran did not destabilize any nation. All these countries you mentioned were destabilized by western intervention supported by the west's regional client states. Iran stepped in to contain and defeat the zio-American empire's nefarious plans, as well as for purely
defensive reasons, because many of these conflicts were started only to break Iran's existing system of alliance, after which they would have come for Iran herself.
Your "right to intervene" ends on your border. Issue with Iran is that it never stop on its border. You are not the choose protector of Shias till eternity. Your national security is not related to murder cases in Afghan towns.
How does it concern you ? Why are you responsible for Shia populace of other nationalities ? Is Saudi responsible for all the wahabis ? I am sure Iran will also have a sizable wahabi population. Would you allow their influence and actions on your land ?
Well, every regional power has and is intervening in neighboring states in case of a conflict. Iran can't be singled out here.
If Shias are abused and ask Iran for help, Iran will try and rescue them. Iran will also try and help if Sunni Muslims face oppression, as in Palestine, where Iran is the only state actor worldwide to actually extend military support to the local Resistance made of Sunni Muslims. Another example are Sunni Muslim Bosnians during the civil war in the 1990's, whom Iran aided massively. Iran will even assist non-Muslims oppressed by tyrannical powers to be, such as the people and government of Venezuela which are being pressured by illegal US embargoes.
Iran already brought instability to Yemen, Syria and Iraq with its sectarian shit. Iran already supported Shia militias in the past in Pakistan. Iran give fundings to Shia organisations of Pakistan. You are not the choosen protector of Shias. Stop acting like one. Stop meddling in other countries. Otherwise you will only increase anti Iran sentiments...
Just stick to your borders and no one cares what you do inside your borders. You are turning allies / friendly countries to neutral /adversaries with your expansionist policies. No body care about you untill you throw your packed shit in their backyard.
What ally or friendly country did Iran turn into an adversary by her policies?
As I explained above, Iran does not pursue an expansionist agenda, but a defensive and anti-imperial one. Having allies and partners across the region is part of this.
A Muslim country X have gangs ( Shia gangs and Sunni gangs). Both fight against each other because both consider themself the true believers. KSA come to fund the Sunni gang and Iran come to fund plus arm the Shia gang. Mashallah, now country X have a sectarian conflict.
Things played out differently than that. Take Iraq for example: any and all inter-communal armed strife there was triggered by the terrorist bombing of the al-Askari shrine by the so-called "Islamic" State in 2006. There was nothing of the sort before.
Even so, Iran herself never directed any of her allies to take Sunni Muslims as their enemies, and focused strictly on suppressing the sectarianist terrorists of Daesh. As you can see today, Iranian allies of the PMU keenly welcome Sunni Muslims in their ranks.
Your country expansionist mentality is not helping you but instead hurting you. A bloc is being created against you for the same reason.
If it's the Saudi-led alliance made of US client regimes you're referring to, then it was not created to contain supposed expansionism by Iran, but to maintain the zio-American dominated status quo in the region, which Iran has actually been challenging.
You are going to need allies in your neighbourhood but you are too keen in turning them adversaries by spreading proxies and militias in those neighbour countries. Continue on the path you have been following. Get yourself destroyed in the process. ANA had a bigger ego than yours, Afghan government was more aggressive than you. See what happened to them. Is any of its neighbour helping them ? You know the answer. Enjoy the journey, weep at the destination.
What exactly has Iran done to Afghanistan? Iran is allied with groups there, which are not limited to one sect nor ethnicity as I indicated above. How is this exclusive to Iran? Pakistan, India, the US / EU, all are doing the same.
And Iran's interest in a friendly and stable relationship with whomever is to govern Afghanistan is exemplified by its multiple diplomatic efforts in this regard. Iran has established contacts with the Taliban, if they had a particular issue with Iran's policy, they'd make it known.
