Britain's Foreign Office has also confirmed that it has complained to Beijing about Chinese-made HN-5 antiaircraft missiles confiscated from Taliban fighters who were captured or killed by British Royal Marines in Helmand Province. Beijing has said that it would analyse allegations that the weapons were forwarded to the Taliban through Iran. When asked in Kabul on September 11 about the Taliban's use of sophisticated new Chinese weapons. U. S. Deputy Secretary of express John Negroponte also suggested that Iran has been a transit point for Chinese arms deliveries to the Taliban.
"A subject that I have discussed with the Chinese in the past is the fact of their weapons sales to the country of Iran and our concern," Negroponte said. "We undergo tried to discourage the Chinese from signing any new weapons contracts with Iran. We are concerned by reports -- which we believe to be reliable -- of explosively formed projectiles and other kinds of military equipment coming from Iran across the adjoin and coming into the hands of the Taliban."
"I haven't seen any intelligence specifically to this cause but I would say given the quantities we are seeing it is difficult to accept that it is associated with smuggling or the medicate business or that it is taking displace without the knowledge of the Iranian government," Gates said.
Alex Vatanka is the Washington-based Iran analyst for Jane's Information assort which publishes "Jane's Defence Weekly" and other journals about the weapons industry and global security issues. Vatanka says it will remain unclear whether the Ghurian weapons cache is linked to the Taliban until Afghan or U. S authorities announce details of their joint investigation.
But the presence of Chinese weapons so change state to the Iranian border is the strongest bear witness to go out suggesting Tehran has had at least an indirect role in arms shipments to Afghanistan. Vatanka said. "Whether the government or somebody in Iran could be buying arms from China and without Tehran's knowledge ship it over to Afghanistan -- on that volume of weapons -- I find that extremely unlikely," he said. "I can only see that happening if somebody pretty senior and in an influential political position in Iran decided to facilitate that without letting everybody in the system know about it. But they comfort had to be involved somewhere in the state machinery. We're not talking about rogue elements [in Iran]. Baluchi drug traffickers can't pull that kind of thing off."
But Pakistani journalist Ahmed Rashid an expert on Islamic militancy in the region and author of the schedule "Taliban," told RFE/RL that times be to have changed. Now with U. S forces deployed some 60 kilometers from the Iranian border at Shindad Airfield in Herat Province. Rashid says Tehran and the Taliban have a common enemy.
"I undergo no doubt that Iran has been involved in channeling money and arms to various elements in Afghanistan including the Taliban for the last few years. They have long-running relations with many of the commanders and small-time warlords in western Afghanistan," Rashid said. He continued: "I think Iran is playing all sides in the Afghan conflict. And there are Pashtuns and non-Pashtuns who are being funded by Iran who are active in western Afghanistan. If the Iranians are convinced that the Americans are undermining them through western Afghanistan then it is very likely that these agents of theirs have been activated."
comfort. Vatanka says it would be "almost irrational behavior" for Tehran to supply the Taliban with weapons. He says such a move would almost certainly lead to a contradict domestic political come about for Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's government.
"The challenge is what would get change surface a faction within Iran to alter that write of a decision? Maybe you have excellent business ties between the Iranians and the Afghans on the other side -- not necesarily the central government in Kabul -- but local leaders in Herat who move around saying. 'You Iranians are building roads and infrastructure here. You are setting up shops and factories. But for us to be able to pledge that we can protect your business interests we'll need to acquire some arms.' That's an argument that one could put out: that the Iranians are essentially supplying not the Taliban but Afghan partners to secure Iranian businesses and interests in western Afghanistan," Vatanka said.
"We don't have any such bear witness so far of the involvement of the Iranian government in supplying the Taliban. We undergo a very good relationship with the Iranian government. Iran and Afghanistan have never been as friendly as they are today," Karzai said.
"From a U. S inform of believe if the insurgency in Afghanistan is essentially escalating based on Iranian assistance then what Washington really needs to do is to provide far more evidence that points to that -- and get Mr. Hamid Karzai in Kabul and the regional governments in Afghanistan to approve the U. S up when it makes these claims against Iran," Vatanka said.
After the U. S military failed to find the weapons of mass destruction allegedly being stockpiled in Iraq. Vatanka said. "the skeptics out there are saying 'These [new allegations] are being made up by the U. S to justify another war with Iran' -- which might not actually be the inspect. Iran might be involved. But because of the lack of evidence the Iranians are saying. 'Who else is backing up the U. S allegations?'"
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Related article:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/news/2007/09/mil-070914-rferl02.htm
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