Iran and the Taliban at war
The Taliban are of a different sect of Islam to the Iranians, having the Taliban a true force to be reckoned with bordering Iran was a serious threat, since 1996 on they controlled 95% of Afghanistan!
Following the Civil War in 1992 in which the mujahideen defeated the powerful Afghan government installed before the Soviets left in 1988 saw Afghanistan permanently torn to pieces by war, a real wild west.
Only two years after taking control over most of Afghanistan the Taliban launched a daring terrorist attack against the town of Mazari Sharif where Iranian diplomats were present, Taliban forces laid siege to the town cornering the diplomats in the basement of a building and murdering all of them, it was a horrible attack and one that saw Iran place it's forces on the border with Afghanistan.
Obviously the direct murder of diplomats was a direct attack on Iran.
And it was also obvious that throwing Iranian military men and machines into Afghanistan to fight the Taliban would have been a hopeless struggle, however there was a considerable buildup of Iranian troops and tanks on their border with Afghanistan, it was obvious they had to respond with considerable force to properly avenge the preemptive attack.
The Northern Alliance Iran's ally were huddled up in the Panjshir Valley, they used 19th century cavalry tactics in war, however they did have a handful of Mil Mi-35 Hind helicopter gunships with access to spares from their other ally the Russian Federation, they could have caused damage but would have thrown Iran into an un-winnable war, it seemed the best thing to do was to wait out the aftermath of the murder of their diplomats.
On September 10th 2001, al Qaeda put a clever sting operation in which the leader of the Northern Alliance Massoud was killed in a suicide bombing, Vladamir Putin suspected they were up to something and informed President Bush of his concerns.
The next day saw the 9/11 attacks and followed up starting on October 7th a month long bombing of Afghanistan, the US air campaign consisted of bombing caves, there was no real targets, Iran saw an opportunity and so did the US, bombing the Northern Alliance a route to Kabul they managed to liberate the city of Taliban forces, it was a rare incident of US and Iranian governments working together militarily.
However one has to wonder what would have happened if Iran with barely any allies would have had to take on the Taliban in a large scale border war or even a war which could have seen Iranian forces committed to fighting deep into Afghanistan!
Following the Civil War in 1992 in which the mujahideen defeated the powerful Afghan government installed before the Soviets left in 1988 saw Afghanistan permanently torn to pieces by war, a real wild west.
Only two years after taking control over most of Afghanistan the Taliban launched a daring terrorist attack against the town of Mazari Sharif where Iranian diplomats were present, Taliban forces laid siege to the town cornering the diplomats in the basement of a building and murdering all of them, it was a horrible attack and one that saw Iran place it's forces on the border with Afghanistan.
Obviously the direct murder of diplomats was a direct attack on Iran.
And it was also obvious that throwing Iranian military men and machines into Afghanistan to fight the Taliban would have been a hopeless struggle, however there was a considerable buildup of Iranian troops and tanks on their border with Afghanistan, it was obvious they had to respond with considerable force to properly avenge the preemptive attack.
The Northern Alliance Iran's ally were huddled up in the Panjshir Valley, they used 19th century cavalry tactics in war, however they did have a handful of Mil Mi-35 Hind helicopter gunships with access to spares from their other ally the Russian Federation, they could have caused damage but would have thrown Iran into an un-winnable war, it seemed the best thing to do was to wait out the aftermath of the murder of their diplomats.
On September 10th 2001, al Qaeda put a clever sting operation in which the leader of the Northern Alliance Massoud was killed in a suicide bombing, Vladamir Putin suspected they were up to something and informed President Bush of his concerns.
The next day saw the 9/11 attacks and followed up starting on October 7th a month long bombing of Afghanistan, the US air campaign consisted of bombing caves, there was no real targets, Iran saw an opportunity and so did the US, bombing the Northern Alliance a route to Kabul they managed to liberate the city of Taliban forces, it was a rare incident of US and Iranian governments working together militarily.
However one has to wonder what would have happened if Iran with barely any allies would have had to take on the Taliban in a large scale border war or even a war which could have seen Iranian forces committed to fighting deep into Afghanistan!
posted by Paul Iddon @ 1:10 PM
1 Comments:
At October 15, 2009 9:35 PM ,
Anonymous said...
Very good read.
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