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The regime probably doesn't want US interference, it is simply mocking the weakness of the US position in the region. - Amith On Sun, Jun 22, 2014 at 7:51 AM, Charles Faulkner via Marxism < [email protected]> wrote: > ====================================================================== > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > ====================================================================== > > > enough credit? how about any credit? things couldn't be weirder. > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: "Serve, Marxism" <[email protected]> > To: "Faulkner, Charles" <[email protected]> > Sent: Sunday, June 22, 2014 7:35:59 AM > Subject: Re: [Marxism] Iran: If US serious about fighting terrorism it > must launch air strikes > > ====================================================================== > Rule #1: YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. > ====================================================================== > > > On 6/22/14 9:40 AM, Joseph Catron wrote: > > > > It's clear that there's confusion in the ranks, but I suspect Khamenei, > > who has the final word anyway, intended his statement as a cue for some > > others to shut it. > > I don't see why it is so far-fetched to see an Iran-USA bloc against > Sunni fighters. After all, Iran and the USA backed the Northern Alliance > against the Taliban in 2001. > > > Iran helped overthrow Taliban, candidate says > By Barbara Slavin, USA TODAY, 6/9/2005 > > Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards fought alongside and advised the > Afghan rebels who helped U.S. forces topple Afghanistan's Taliban regime > in the months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the guards' former > leader says. > > In an interview by e-mail, Mohsen Rezaie, a candidate in Iran's > presidential elections next week, says the United States has not given > Iran enough credit. He says Iran played an "important role in the > overthrow of the Taliban" in 2001 (Related: Full text of interview). > > Even before U.S. forces entered Afghanistan, Iran backed the Northern > Alliance, a loose coalition of warlords and militias from the Tajik, > Uzbek and Hazara minorities. The alliance fought the ruling Taliban, a > regime dominated by majority Pashtuns that imposed a harsh Sunni Islamic > government. > > Current and former U.S. troops and officials confirm Iranians were > present with the Northern Alliance as U.S. forces organized the rebels > in 2001. They say U.S. forces had no interaction with the Iranians. They > deny the Iranians made meaningful contributions on the battlefield. > > Rezaie is the first to claim that Iran played a key role in capturing > the Afghan capital, Kabul, at the climax of the war. > > Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says he has "no knowledge of (Iranian) > assistance." The CIA refused to comment. > > Former CIA Afghan team leader Gary Schroen says there were two Iranian > guard colonels attached to a Northern Alliance commander, Bismullah > Khan, outside Kabul when U.S. Special Forces arrived in September 2001. > > Schroen, author of First In: An Insider's Account of How the CIA > Spearheaded the War on Terror in Afghanistan, says, "There was never any > (U.S.) interaction (with the Iranians), but we saw them." He downplayed > the Iranian role. > > "We knew they were on the ground," says John McLaughlin, former deputy > director of the CIA. > > Two officers who served with Task Force Dagger, the Special Forces group > that conducted the first U.S. military operations in Afghanistan, say > they knew Iranian agents or troops were present. > > One, an Army Special Forces officer, says Iranians in the Northern > Alliance stronghold of Mazar-e-Sharif were sabotaging U.S. efforts by > competing for the loyalty of local warlords. An Army Special Forces > battalion commander says he encountered an Iranian intelligence agent in > Kunduz, scene of one of the war's biggest battles. A third Army officer > says U.S. forces reported the presence of Iranians in the city of Herat > with alliance leader and warlord Ismail Khan. All three spoke on > condition they not be named. > > Predominantly Shiite Iran nearly went to war against the Taliban after > the massacre of Afghan Shiites and nine Iranians in Mazar-e-Sharif in 1998. > > The Bush administration became the prime backer of the Northern Alliance > after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Defense Secretary Donald > Rumsfeld told CBS' Face the Nation on Nov. 11, 2001, two days before the > fall of Kabul, that there were places in Afghanistan "where there are > some Iranian liaison people, as well as some American liaison people" > working with the same Afghan forces. > > James Dobbins, a former State Department official who worked with > diplomats from Iran and other Afghan neighbors to create the first > post-Taliban government, says the Iranians "were equipping and paying > the Northern Alliance. Russia and India were also helping, but at the > time, Iran was the most active." > > It is unclear how many Iranians were present at the fall of Kabul. > Rezaie says "some" guard commanders were there. "They were special > forces for urban warfare (with) experience ... during the Iran-Iraq War > (1980-88). They were very effective and active ... but American Army > propaganda quickly claimed most of these achievements in its own name." > > The Bush administration would have been loath to praise the Iranians, in > particular the Revolutionary Guards. The guards are Iran's main vehicle > for supporting groups the United States regards as terrorists, such as > Hezbollah in Lebanon, says Kenneth Katzman, an Iran expert at the > Congressional Research Service in Washington. > > In 2002, President Bush labeled Iran a member of an "axis of evil" along > with Iraq and North Korea. > > After the fall of the Taliban, Iran offered to help train and equip a > new Afghan army, Dobbins says. The offer was rebuffed by the Bush > administration, which accused Tehran of giving safe passage to fleeing > members of al-Qaeda, backing Palestinian militants and trying to develop > nuclear weapons. > > Rezaie, 50, one of eight candidates permitted to run by Iran's clerical > regime, appeared to be underlining Iran's role to draw attention to his > candidacy and show a desire to improve relations with the United States. > Other candidates in the election, including the front-runner, former > president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, promise they would improve ties > broken 25 years ago while Iran was holding U.S. diplomats hostage. > > Rezaie says that "everything is possible" to restore relations. He > praised the late Ronald Reagan and former Secretary of State Madeleine > Albright for reaching out to Iran and says, "If they (the Americans) > make us a rational offer," he will push for closer cooperation. > > Contributing: Sean D. Naylor of Army Times, an independent publication > owned by Gannett > > > ________________________________________________ > Send list submissions to: [email protected] > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/lacenaire%40comcast.net > > ________________________________________________ > Send list submissions to: [email protected] > Set your options at: > http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/amithrgupta%40gmail.com > ________________________________________________ Send list submissions to: [email protected] Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
