he Telegraph - London - 09/16/98
By Alan Philps, Middle East Correspondent, and Ahmed
THE Iranian army was put on high alert yesterday as fears mounted that the Islamic Republic may be preparing an incursion into Afghanistan to punish the Taliban movement, which has conquered practically the whole country.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, said that his country and the whole Islamic world were in danger due to the progress of the Taliban. He said: "All officials, including the armed forces, must be
ready for speedy, timely and decisive implementation of whatever decisions senior authorities deem necessary and right for the country."
He spoke following emotional scenes at Teheran airport on Monday night on the return of the bodies of seven of nine Iranians killed when the Taliban stormed into the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, a former stronghold of the Iranian-backed forces, on Aug 8. Two of the bodies were left behind "due to lack of any distinguishing features". Tearful mourners broke through the security cordon and shouted: "Death to the Taliban," and "The martyrs are alive."
Iran already has 70,000 troops on the Afghanistan-Iran border and 130,000 more began assembling there over the weekend in preparation for exercises that would begin next Wednesday on a 250-mile front
along the border. On Monday, the Taliban said they were moving 25,000 troops to defend their three western provinces of Nimruz, Herat and Farah and the strategic city of Herat, which is only 90 miles from
the Iranian border along a good metalled road.
Western defence attache‚s in Islamabad said that as a minimum the Iranians may launch a limited offensive to capture the three provinces and the towns of Farah and Herat. One attach‚ said: "They are
likely to arm some of the 1.5 million Afghan refugees in Iran and send them in to hold this region. That would allow Afghan leaders of the anti-Taliban alliance to set up a new capital in Herat and move against the Taliban headquarters in Kandahar and also build a corridor to Bamiyan."
Bamiyan, the stronghold of the anti-Taliban Shia Hazara tribes, fell to the Taliban on Monday and it is feared that thousands of Hazaras may be massacred by the Taliban. Iranian leaders have already said
they would avenge the massacre of some 6,000 Hazaras by the Taliban in northern Afghanistan in August.
The prospect of fighting between Iran and the Taliban, standard-bearers of the rival Shia and Sunni strands of Islam, has prompted fears throughout the Middle East of a religious conflict expanding far beyond Afghanistan. A commentator in the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat said: "A military conflict between the Taliban and Iran would bring disaster on, and end in defeat for, both sides. Sunni-Shia tensions are already running high in Pakistan. The fuel is on the streets and it will only take a match to set it on fire."
Iran is likely to forge a common front of minority Afghan ethnic groups, who since 1992 have been resisting the Taliban. The Taliban are drawn from the majority Pashtun ethnic group.
Ayatollah Khamenei has also accused the Pakistani army of helping the Taliban and perpetrating the massacres of the Hazaras. If Iran invades Afghanistan, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia could be drawn into
the conflict because they back the Taliban with military aid and money. On Iran's side are Russia, India, the five Central Asian Republics and Turkey. |
