Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Iran Continues to Arm the Taliban

By now, most have forgotten Roger Cohen's April 8, 2009 New York Times op-ed, "Israel Cries Wolf" (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/09/opinion/09iht-edcohen.html), in which Cohen wrote:

"What’s critical right now is that Obama view Netanyahu’s fear-mongering with an appropriate skepticism, rein him in, and pursue his regime-recognizing opening toward Tehran, as he did Wednesday by saying America would join nuclear talks for the first time."

Cohen's prattle was consistent with the views of the Obama administration: If we "make nice" to Iran, surely they will respond in kind.

Consider now where Obama's overtures have ultimately taken us, as reported by The Telegraph:

"British Special Forces in Afghanistan have seized a convoy of powerful Iranian rockets destined for Taliban fighters.

The haul is the strongest evidence yet of a significant escalation in Tehran's support for the Taliban, military officials said.

The consignment of 48 rockets hidden in three trucks was intercepted last month after a fierce fire fight which left several insurgents dead in the remote southern province of Nimroz, bordering Iran.

. . . .

The 122mm rockets have twice the range and twice the blast radius of the Taliban's more commonly used 107mm missiles and have not been seen in action against Nato forces for the past four years.

The 48 weapons had been deliberately disguised to appear manufactured elsewhere, but tests by weapons experts had determined they were from an Iranian factory.

. . . .

The rockets have a range of more than 12 miles and shower shrapnel to a radius of nearly 100 feet."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/8371807/SAS-seize-Iranian-rockets-destined-for-Taliban-fighters.html

Of particular interest here is Shiite Iran's increasing willingness to arm the Taliban, whose adherents consist primarily of Sunni Muslim Pashtuns. In addition to Hezbollah and Hamas, Iran has now taken under its wing yet another terrorist proxy. So much for the Obama Doctrine of appeasing tyrannical regimes while undermining longstanding allies.

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