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Speaking to WION’s Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Ahmadinejad stressed that the handing over of power to Taliban is part of a ‘satanic plot’ by the western powers led by the US. India, Iran, Pakistan, Russia, China and regional countries will face the consequences of the re-emergence of Taliban, he said on WION’s Afghanistan Dialogues programme. He urged Pakistan to join efforts by Iran and India to resolve the crisis.
Amid reports that Pakistan had helped the Taliban quell the resistance in Panjshir, Iran’s former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad warned Islamabad that it will be haunted by its actions in near future in which he foresaw the militant group threatening Pakistani government and sovereignty.
Speaking to WION’s Executive Editor Palki Sharma, Ahmadinejad also stressed that the handing over of power to Taliban is part of a ‘satanic plot’ by the western powers led by the US.
I agree on, Ahmadineyad Is a very good thinker, he was the presidente of Irán, and the US really have fear on him. But, I dont believe russians dont think about the Ahmadineyad comments, putin knows very well the point.
Ahmadinejad was a good thinker. He also was a very good president (only in his first term)but right now he is just a lost cause and an absolute attention whore
Early on it seemed that Russia and China were the targets of the chaos and terrorism that will result from the US pullout and the gift of 85 billion dollars in high tech weapons systems and enough small arms to equip 300,000-400,000 fighters.
Thinking about the more realistic war the US is fomenting, Pakistan is the target. Disrupting the CPEC would be a huge goal for the US.
The territorial situation is similar to the Kurds in Iraq and Syria. The Pashtuns want the tribal area of Pakistan. A significant war that turns on Pakistan might just be why the strange withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan was done. Though Pakistan is close to China and Russia, neither would come to its aid. Pakistan could be bogged down in a bloody mess for the rest of the decade. It could destabilize the Pakistan government if was a prolonged insurgent war.
Why do you believe Russia and China won’t come to Pakistan’s aid?
Will China forgo its investments in Pakistan?
And what about Pakistan’s membership in the SCO? Isn’t that some kind of anti-terrorism alliance? And isn’t the Taliban considered a terrorist group by Russia?
And isn’t it widely believed that Pakistan and the Taliban are two peas in a pod, so to speak?
But, looking at it from the angle of “this must be a US strategy to destabilize someone” — I guess Pakistan is the odd man out.
The Taliban cannot threaten Russia or China, and I doubt they could muster any public support among Afghans or even
any justification for going after Iran, even if they thought they could manage fighting the Iranians, and at the same time going up against the Fatemiyoun brigade and the Hazaras.
Again, there would be no public support or justification for going after Tajikistan or Uzbekistan, which Russia would surely protect in any case. That only leaves Pakistan, and the Pashtun tribal territorial dispute.
But how does the Pakistani intelligence chief’s visit to Kabul, and the Pakistani airstrikes against Panjshir — in support of the Taliban — reflect on the relationship between the Taliban and Pakistan?
I am sure you are aware that the largest Pushtun country is Pakistan. The city with the largest Pushtun population by numbers is Karachi. The most powerful Pushtun in the world is Imran Khan who is the PM of Pakistan.
Two thirds of Pushtuns are Pakistani. Upto 50% of Afghanistan is Pushtun. Upto 25% of Pakistan is Pushtun.
Pushtun nationalists in Afghanistan have been trying to destabilize Pakistan in order get ‘their’ land back on and off since 1948. It was Pakistani Pushtuns who resisted them. Yes there is a group within Pakistan who wants this ‘Pushtunistan’ but most of them are Afghan refugees. They make headway since they were supported by powerful foreign forces as their strategic interests coincided. Part of hybrid warfare.
Now with the Afghan Taliban in power, despite all their issues internally and externally, they are not uber nationalists. Their first government meant a safe western border for Pakistan (smuggling happened but not terrorism). Please God that their second government also means a safe western border.
Take this with a huge grain of salt, as I’m only conjecturing.
Iran veers between Persian and Muslim identities. Of course in reality they are mixed.
Ahmadinejad represented a more “Persian” orientation, this is why he is foreseeing how the Taliban, with Puritan-Wahhabi tendencies could weaken Iranian influence. He was not allowed to run in the election. Abraham Raisi was (look at his name – Abraham) and he represented a more “pure Islam” orientation.
Let’s hope the Iranians are wise and will find the best proportion and the best path – and they likely will, Persia is probably the only continous culture older than China.
Hell of an assessment. But forewarned is forearmed.
As stated above. It’s a fair possibility that leaving behind a planned chaos in which the tribal belt may become a security issue for Pakistan was part of the agenda. That remains to be seen but not a short term threat in all likelihood.
On the claim that Pak assisted in panjshir this is fake news. The Indians are notorious for corruption in media. Objective media discounted the story. Even the saner elements in the country slammed the story which even used video game footage.
In relation to the Ahmadinejad news again I wouldn’t put too much credibility in Wion media. They exploded with the news of Pak military involvement. Before that they were hugely cheering for the CIA assets in the panjshir who really had very little chance and support. Saleh fled to Tajikistan beforehand and Massoud junior is likely there too. They bravely said they will fight and resist and then left when the going got a bit tough. Leaving their foot soldiers to take the brunt. They followed the ghani protocol.
So with such unfounded claims for Ahmadinejad to speak in this way is highly strange. Why he would infer displeasure at the ousting of the two above mentioned CIA assets who desired an uprising in Afghanistan to create further instability is even more strange. How would that be in the interests of regional states (excepting India). Moreover, let’s say for arguments sake Pakistan did help the taliban in Panjshir. Hasn’t Iran historically interfered in Afghan affairs by previously supporting the northern alliance. What then is the difference. The further strange aspect is rather than call Pakistan to explain itself in a bilateral sense with Iran to its actions and its help to stabilise the Afghan situation. Why would Ahmadinejad induce India into this bilateral affair. That would clearly be a no go for Pakistan or the taliban which he knows and more importantly India doesn’t even share a border with Afghanistan. Its least mandated to play a role in any afghan resolution considering its diabical support for the US invasion and Proxy govt. I’m not sure why Ahmadinejad would put his good credibility on the line in such a feeble way.
Considering the interactions the Chinese and the Russians have been having with the Taliban for many years and the developments so far it seems pretty dubious to reach the conclusion Ahmadinejad proclaims. It amounts to the taliban playing with those leaders it has been in discussions with and right into the designs of natoo which it was fighting with for 20 years. It all seems rather fictitious.
The only reason I can assume is that Iran which has supported the northern alliance and other leaders has been left with little influence in the country due to the taliban victory.
What I can agree with and this is the main issue, is the minimal representation of non-taliban and non-pashtoon elements in the current make up of the govt. Yes the victory was almost solely achieved by the current rulers and trust is the main ingredient in a working govt, the talibs need to play this aspect as courageously as they fought the war.
I will copy past my reply in the previous moveable feast cafe(/moveable-feast-cafe-2021-09-06/#comment-972046):
The link is of an indian media called wion news, known for spreading fake news and is indian right leaning.
following are links to the their latest fake news of pak involvement in panjshir from wion, this is just in last two days:
1) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcBkA68s2YM
@2:08 the reporter says, “all accounts from panjshir indicate, that this was an ISI led assault, the pakistani air force used drones to drop bombs on panjshir, the troops from pakistani special cells group assisting the taliban on ground, all of this happened under the command of ISI chief faiz hamid and is not hersay, this has been verified by journalists and resistance fighters in panjshir”
2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN17agwURHY
reporter: “The pakistani military invaded panjshir to demolish the resistance, and install a taliban flag.”
They even made news out of BBC’s christine fair interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ruGXC6TewA). If you scroll down below, you will find a comment(/moveable-feast-cafe-2021-09-06/#comment-971639) containing the link to indian right wing twitter handle regarding the interview, which anon tried to give a different spin but was corrected by Bostonian.
The answer to this is in studying the wars that pak fought with it’s eternal rival india and the afghan govt support for india in these wars. In the 1965 indo-pak war, pashtunistan (an afghan-indian project which both the countries used to further their own goals. For the afghan govt, it was to reclaim pashtun territories from pak and the for india, it was the balkanization of pak) militants attacked pak army in waziristan in coordination with indian airforce bombings of peshawar and kohat (according to the afghan state media). Afghan govt also reinforced their forces on the afghan-pak borders when indo-pak battle intensified. The afghan military deployment along the borders was one of the factors which made the pak agree to the ceasefire, otherwise pak would have to fight a two front battle facing both the afghans and indians.
Coming to the the present day, pak knows very well that there will always be a afghan pashtun threat to pak government and sovereignty. It has two options,
1) an afghan government which will always threaten pak (as shown in the 1965 indo-pak war),
2) a sunni islamic emirate in afghanistan which will not be overtly anti-pak (the last islamic emirate of mullah omar proved it). An orthodox and conservative islamic rule of taliban will not only increase the security against their western borders, but would also help them against india. The mullah omar led emirate had no diplomatic relations with india and pashtun militants did fight in the indian governed kashmir’s insurgency. Even with the present TTP threat, the IEA is still favorable to pak as compared to the other afghan governments.
Dear Abdullah,
First, let me say that I appreciate your comments here.
“Since India claims all of Kashmir, India technically considers to have a 106 km border with Afghanistan.”
And
https://tinyurl.com/yvrkk9e3 — put this article through machine translation. It is an interview with a Panjshiri fighter, who says he saw the airstrikes.
Many people are misreading this situation.
The Iranian foreign ministry is upset that ethnic Persians are being bombed and besieged, naturally.
The IRGC is wants peace and stability in the region.
At this point, there is more than one witness on the ground, whom the Tasnim crew have interviewed, that claims to have seen air bombardment.
Pakistan is the only possible ‘culprit’, especially considering the fact that their intelligence chief was in Kabul, right before the bombings.
Pakistan wants to stay on the Taliban’s good side, for fear of Pashtun territorial claims, and because the Taliban now has more independence from Pakistan, now that they have the IRGC and the Iranians to turn to for support, and Pakistan also wants the situation stabilized ASAP.
If airstrikes against Western-backed rebels is what it takes to stabilize the situation, why would Pakistan refuse?
But it seems the Pakistanis got played here a little bit.
The Iranians would never make a move against the Tajiks, the Shias, or anyone in Panjshir, because they don’t want to alienate the Afghans, who generally respect and adore Iran, especially the 3 million Afghans currently living in Iran.
But, the Panjshir threat had to be neutralized. And it was the Iranians who had held the Taliban back from attacking Panjshir during their blitz. And now it is the IRGC’s Tasnim news agency who has been reporting from Panjshir.
In any case, the Pakistanis were called to strike the Panjshir resistance, and scatter it, which resulted in a very quick Taliban takeover of the area. According to the Tasnim reporter, the province is more or less fully conquered.
But now everyone in Afghanistan is chanting death to Pakistan. So, the Pakistanis, even though they acted for the stabilization and security of Afghanistan, are now hated more than before, while Iran’s fingerprint is nowhere to be found, and nobody can even prove any Iranian involvement in Afghanistan at all, save for a few Humvees that have been photographed in Iran.
We will see what we will see in the days to come, but I will leave you with the IRGC’s fundamental position as far as Afghanistan is concerned: security and stability; the IRGC has repeatedly made it clear that what Afghanistan needs is peace and security right now, not democracy or inclusiveness in an interim cabinet or women’s rights.
Afghanistan needs peace and stability. And for now, a full Pashtun Taliban affiliated cabinet, which won’t end up fighting amongst themselves, is the best choice for peace and stability.
It is too soon for democracy and an inclusive government, which would just end up fighting each other over nonsense and destroy any chance for peace right now, and also give foreign actors the chance to back different sides.
Only an iron fist can save Afghanistan now, and I believe that the Taliban, Pakistan, and the IRGC are working together for this.
Anony
Thank you. Interesting comment.
I agree that Pak, the IRGC and the taliban need a working understanding to incentivise stability. China can play a significant role here with its strategic relations it has with all 3 players.
I think M. K. Badrakumar to a degree views it in this way too. There is a lot going on in behind the scene negotiations and shared forums with senior intelligence and foreign diplomats.
https://www.indianpunchline.com/reflections-on-events-in-afghanistan-15/
The link is from tasnim, that you had earlier pointed out was an IRGC media. How can one expect that it is not biased and would not spread fake news then. Watch the reporting of panjshir by faisal from ‘kabul lovers’ channel who took the statements from multiple pajshiri locals.
https://youtu.be/iMZFSVhLI2s
@18:15, the man denies any pak bombardments of panjshir.
You claim that IRGC affiliated tasnim media was allowed in panjshir because of the influence that the IRGC has over the taliban (which it doesn’t). If IRGC has been working together with the taliban and both are allies, why did tasnim publish the pak bombing of panjshir which the taliban is denying? And how could the taliban allowed tasnim to keep the recordings when the talibs wipe out recording and pictures from the devices.
The CIA chief came before the pak ISI chief and held meetings with mullah baradar. And it’s good to know about a different spin to the ISI chief’s visit. At least you did not repeat the propaganda that he visited to lobby for the haqqanis to be in the cabinet by arm twisting the taliban. Qatar officials are also on a visit to afghanistan.
Pak decisively defeated the TTP in ‘operation sherdil’ and the afghan taliban did not make any noise about reclaiming the territories. It is ignorant to say that pak, a nuclear armed state with years of experience in counter-insurgency and a conventional armament supremacy over these groups would be fearful of the taliban.
Pak did not have the influence even before over the taliban that you project. And if the taliban has more independence now as you say, why did they request or how did they accept pak bombing panjshir?
Iran’s support? The iranian government and IRGC are pushing the pak invasion of panjshir news including ahmadinejad. The accusation against pak in this case is also an accusation against the taliban and the taliban has been denying any pak support. After this, the talibs are going to be more wary of iran than before.
Pak does not use drones and air strikes to eliminate the terrorists on their own soil, why would it bring in drones and fighter jets to bomb panjshir. Why would pak indulge in such a risky act which will make it come under more sanctions. They would rather give arms to the taliban to carry out the attacks.
And taliban didn’t hold back, which means that iran and IRGC have no influence over the taliban that you project. The entire panjshir campaign is not so simple as you describe, taliban had sent multiple mullahs to convince the panjshiri resistance to surrender. The panjshir resistance believed amrullah saleh rather than the taliban, and saleh is a sworn enemy of the taliban.
everyone? you make it sound like everyone in afghanistan chants death to pakistan. If you are referring to the anti-pak protests in front of pak’s kabul embassy, then there were bigger rallies taking place in support of the taliban. And what is more surprising is that the protests took place in front of pak embassy in iran at the same time too, coincidence?
Bought in by fleeing ANA soldiers from the taliban onslaught.
There is never going to be a democracy in afghanistan, the taliban have always been clear that they are going to implement shariah. Democracy has not worked in afghanistan, people should stop imposing their worldview over other who don’t accept it.
Those who fight for their cause and are ready to die for it get to rule, not those who willingly serve as servants to foreign occupiers. It was clear since the beginning that the taliban would not give any position to those who did nothing. If ethnocentrism is the accusation against the taliban, then hekmatyar and karzai also did not get anything. The taliban are not fools to give power to those who fought against them on multiple instances.
which won’t end up fighting amongst themselves
The taliban doesn’t even fight the TTP, forget about fighting among themselves.
https://tinyurl.com/e7ssj7jd — this is a photograph from a mural in Kabul, painted under the Ghani administration.
There is a picture of George Floyd on the right, and an Iranian flag on the left, with the words “We can’t breathe” written on top of it. The red part of the Iranian flag is made to look like a sea of blood, where Afghans are drowning.
The point of this piece of propaganda was to say that the Afghans who live in Iran “can’t breathe” (as per George Floyd) because they are drowning in a sea of blood, because of Iranian racism.
First of all, nobody is forcing the 3 million or so Afghans who live in Iran to stay here. They are free to leave, and yet they choose to stay, and continue to “drown in a river of blood where they can’t breathe.”
But most importantly, and you should take note, Parabellum, the Taliban painted over the mural last week.
The U.S lost a war in Afghanistan and run away. More to come on this in Iraq and Syria.
Assuming there is intelligence on this (to hurt Russia and/or China) is a fake whitewash to give some meaning to a shameful defeat.
The Taliban needs Russia and China to survive.
The Taliban needs to compromise with Iran to succeed.
Pakistan has been a long term player in Afghanistan and I assume they will control/manage somehow whatever is Pakistani Pashtun.
Cheers from France.
Can someone confirm if this is the real Ahmadinejdad’s twitter account?
https://mobile.twitter.com/ahmadinejad1956?lang=en
This sane India cancelled Iran India pipeline because USA was unhappy about it.
India sacrificed her interest to please the Americans!
Well, I think taliban is surrounded by pak, China, Irán, Rusia. Taliban without US suport cant do anything. So i guess, US will not do anything and Afganistán is lost already. Nobody can tell anything in this moment, because the true is unknown. Let the dust take the ground.
I suppose you mean “this same India” , not “this sane India” as the typo shows ! As an Indian I weep for the American lapdogging to which our policies have led.
He’s definitely a few Mehdad (pencils) short in his Jamedadeh (pencil box)!!!
Geopolitical idiot, always had been…
Ahmadinejad is not an idiot. He was a good President, whereas Rouhani was the biggest idiot to have headed the Iranian government since the Qajars.
Ahmadinejad fell in with the wrong crowd, a dangerous Talmudist-backed fifth column clique, and they did a real number on him. They told him he was the chosen one, and all the rubbish which the Talmudists are known for, and they played on his ego, and surrounded him ‘psychics’ and all kinds of loonies, who convinced him that they were in contact with the Mahdi, and rubbish like that — standard Israeli psyop material right out of the text book. The very same nonsense that they pulled with Baha-ullah, and his Bahaii cult.
I wonder, Akram, do you know Siavash? Tall guy, from Ardebil?
Ex-president Ahmadinejad’s comments are basically his wish and he wants India to join Iran to fulfill it.