Iranians train Taliban to use roadside bombs

[Talal]

Iranians train Taliban to use roadside bombs

The Sunday Times
March 21, 2010

TALIBAN commanders have revealed that hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill Nato forces in Afghanistan.

The commanders said they had learnt to mount complex ambushes and lay improvised explosive devices (IEDs), which have been responsible for most of the deaths of British troops in Helmand province.

The accounts of two commanders, in interviews with The Sunday Times, are the first descriptions of training of the Taliban in Iran.

According to the commanders, Iranian officials paid them to attend three-month courses during the winter.

They were smuggled across the border to the city of Zahidan, in southeast Iran, an hour’s drive from training camps in the desert.

Instructors in plain clothes provided daily exercises in live firing. The first month was devoted largely to teaching the Taliban how to attack convoys and how to escape before Nato forces could respond.

During their second month they were shown how to plant IEDs in sequence so that the rescuers of soldiers wounded in one blast would be caught in further explosions.

The third month was spent on storming bases and checkpoints. A hilltop fort was among the locations used for practice by a Taliban platoon.

Local mediators persuaded the commanders to travel to Kabul to tell their stories. They were interviewed on separate occasions on the edge of the city.

Western officials troubled by growing Iranian support for the Taliban describe the accounts as credible. A military crackdown in Pakistan is thought to have encouraged Taliban leaders to look to Iran for more help.

One of the commanders said: “The military is pressuring the Taliban in Pakistan. It is certainly harder to reach places that were once easy to get into. I think more of my fighters will travel to Iran for training this year.”

Karl Eikenberry, the American ambassador to Afghanistan, recently described signs of co-operation between Iran and the Taliban as disturbing.

“Iran or elements within Iran have provided training assistance and some weapons to the Taliban,” he said.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran has publicly backed his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. But American and British officials have accused Iran of playing a double game by giving covert backing to the Taliban.

Shi’ite Iran had long opposed the Sunni-dominated Taliban. The reason for the change was summarised by one Taliban commander who said of the Iranians: “Our religions and our histories are different but our target is the same. We both want to kill Americans.”

[tor_khan]

“Our religions and our histories are different but our target is the same. We both want to kill Americans.”

They could be talking about a video game here.

There's nothing quite like saying what you think is there?

[Talal]

They could be talking about a video game here.

There's nothing quite like saying what you think is there?

I didnt get what you meant by that, but this is from times and logically relevant

[tor_khan]

I didnt get what you meant by that, but this is from times and logically relevant

I wasn't attributing the quote to you.

Often in International Politics, there's posturing (saying things that you want the public to hear) to diplomacy (saying things in private).

Pashtoons - in this case the Taliban - just say what they feel.

Restraint might not be a bad thing now and then, that's all ...

[Dinosaur Khan]

Some thing is fishy
Shia iran+ anit-shia talibans?

[Master Khan]

Just some crap America made up so they can invade Iran now...just like how they invade Iraq.

[Talal]

They already have enough reason to go after Iran, if states declares war on Iran tommorow 99% of the world nations wont oppose it. Iran has literally alienated itself from the world, not a single nation on earth is willing to back em up..Even saudis are willing to let Israel use their airspace to bomb Iran

__________________________________________________ ______________

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=121027&sectionid=351020205

Western security sources believe Saudi Arabia will readily let Israel use the country's airspace to strike neighboring Iran if a war breaks out between the archenemies.

Prominent German news magazine SPIEGEL claimed in a Tuesday article that there exists a strong unity between Israel and Persian Gulf's Arab states against Iran.

The periodical noted that Riyadh has gone so far with the idea as to speak openly to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton of the potential need for a military option against the Islamic Republic.

SPIEGEl also cited Western intelligence agencies who believe that the Saudis would even open up their air space to Israeli jets for an attack on Iran.

This is while the United States has been reported intent on not allowing Israeli warplanes to fly over Iraq, it added.

The report also referred to an Arab League ministerial summit where they unanimously called on the Palestinians to start a new round of US-sponsored "proximity talks" with Israel.

Observers reiterate that SPIEGEl is greatly influenced by the Israeli regime and has previously published reports that were meant to serve as an Israeli propaganda campaign ore psychological warfare against the Islamic Republic.

__________________________________________________ ______________

http://www.heraldscotland.com/news/p...pens-1.1014932

Diego Garcia: Iran attack mystery deepens

The Foreign Office is coming under mounting pressure to tell the truth about whether there are plans by the US to use the British island of Diego Garcia as a base to launch an attack on Iran.

Leading opposition politicians are demanding answers from UK ministers on the role played by the Indian Ocean atoll in previous attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan, and in any future strikes.

Last week, the Sunday Herald revealed 387 bunker buster bombs were being shipped to Diego Garcia by the US. Some experts suggested the move could be in preparation for a possible strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Although the island is part of British territory, it is used by the US as a military base. Some US air strikes against Iraq in 1991 and 2003, and against Afghanistan since 2001, have come from Diego Garcia. The island has also been used for the extraordinary rendition of suspected terrorists.

“The use of British sovereign territory without restriction is clearly something which causes great concern,” said Sir Menzies Campbell MP, a member of the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee and a former Liberal Democrat leader. “The Government has been reluctant to give specific details about the nature of the agreement which governs US occupation. More transparency is unquestionably required.”

The LibDem foreign spokesman, Edward Davey MP, called on the foreign secretary, David Miliband, to make clear whether Diego Garcia was being used by the US to prepare for military action against Iran. “The events relating to this island of shame have damaged Britain’s international reputation,” he said.

The Foreign Office did not respond to a request for comment yesterday.

Last weekend’s Sunday Herald story about the shipment of US bunker busters to Diego Garcia was followed up by scores of media outlets across the world, in the US, Russia, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

One report, from the World Tribune in the US, said the shipment had been originally destined for US bases in Israel. Quoting Congressional sources, it suggested the bunker busters had been diverted to Diego Garcia as part of an unacknowledged embargo on military equipment for Israel.

[Master Khan]

I hate America, I don't trust them.

[Talal]

I hate America, I don't trust them.

haha yeah a lot of people hate them but thats not going to stop them from bombing Iran

[Master Khan]

That is a bold statement.

Do you hate its foreign affairs? or its Govt? Or its citizens?

its Goverment, There are good people in America but Its goverment are the one that go around bombing other countries.
Israel is wrost then Iran then why not attack Israel.