Iran helping the Taliban, US ambassador claims

Iran has been providing weapons and other help to the Taliban, the US ambassador to Afghanistan has claimed.

Karl Eikenberry, a former commanding general in Afghanistan, said parts of the regime had transcended sectarian divisions within Islam to provide support for fundamentalist groups fighting Western forces in Afghanistan.

"Iran or elements within Iran have provided training assistance and some weapons to the Taliban," said Mr Eikenberry.

"General Petraeus has reviewed these reports and said that the scope of Iranian support is nothing on the level that was given previously by Iran to various terrorist elements in Iraq.

"Still, the reports about this kind of low-level support and periodic co-operation between elements in Iran and militant extremist Taliban are disturbing and do not show good faith by Afghanistan's neighbour to the West."

Iran's Shia Muslim regime's has long been suspicious of the extremist Sunni Taliban and Tehran co-operated with the US-led effort to overthrow the movement in 2001.

But a Western official involved in Iran policy-making said yesterday that Iranian officials were now playing both sides of the Afghan conflict to ensure that the Western-backed Kabul government remained weak.

"Afghanistan should be an area of common interest between Britain and Iran because they don't want an extremist Sunni government on their border," an official said.

"But Afghanistan, like Iraq, is in its backyard and Tehran just does not want a Western victory or a strong pro-Western government on its eastern flank. It is now playing two roles there, assisting the insurgency even as it provides aid."

Source:telegraph.co.uk

Offer Taliban a chance to end fight: McChrystal

KABUL: The Afghan government and its international partners should use the coming 18 months to convince the Taliban they cannot win and offer the group a way to quit the insurgency “with dignity”, the top US commander in Afghanistan – Gen Stanley McChrystal – said on Wednesday.

Within hours of Obama’s speech, McChrystal also addressed his commanders by videophone and set off on a battlefield tour to rally his forces.

Timetable: McChrystal told reporters the 18-month timetable for withdrawal was enough time to build up Afghan forces and convince the people of the war-ravaged country that they could eventually take care of their own security.

He said the Afghan government and the coalition should also use that period “to convince the Taliban and the people from whom they recruit that they cannot win ... there is not a way for the insurgency to win militarily”.

McChrystal said the 30,000 extra troops for the Afghan war would make a huge difference. He said the extra forces would provide the help needed for the main effort: speed up the training of Afghan security forces and protect towns and villages.

At the same time, McChrystal said the US should support the Afghan government in a reintegration programme to allow insurgents a way to return to society. agencies

Source:dailytimes.com.pk/