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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (49960)	10/2/2006 6:50:20 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Respond to of 50167

The Guardian reported on Monday. As a hurricane of Taliban violence tears across Afghanistan, accusations of foreign support have centred on Pakistan. But recently Afghan and western officials have started to detect a second, albeit far smaller, stream of support from within Afghanistan’s other powerful neighbour, Iran, The Guardian reported on Monday. Military and diplomatic sources told The Guardian that they had received numerous reports of Iranians meeting tribal elders in Taliban-influenced areas, bringing offers of military or more often financial support for the fight against foreign forces. The sources, asking not to be named, said the meetings took place in Helmand and Nimroz provinces. Although the reports are hard to confirm due to security fears, officials say the direction of flow is unmistakable. “There’s definitely an Iranian hand,” insisted one western official, who said the phenomenon was being quietly monitored by western intelligence and militaries. A senior Afghan military official told The Guardian he had received similar information. Identifying the source of the clandestine support is difficult. One foreign official singled out Baloch militants from eastern Iran. The Baloch nationalists are violently struggling against the Tehran government and are also believed to be involved in the drugs trade. Iranian Balochistan is one of the prime smuggling routes for heroin, so instability in Afghanistan is in the smugglers’ interest. They also have ideological ties with the Taliban. One official said elders from Nad Ali district in Helmand told him they had been visited by an Iranian intelligence officer six weeks ago. “They say he stayed two nights, trying to indoctrinate them and offering support,” he said.