-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: June 14, 2007 1:21:37 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Scrambling for a "Smoking Gun" to Justify US Strike on Iran
US: "Irrefutable" Proof Iran Arms Taliban
PARIS, June 13, 2007
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/13/world/printable2921708.shtml
(CBS/AP) The United States has "irrefutable" evidence that Iran is
transferring weapons to the Taliban in Afghanistan, with the
knowledge of the Iranian government, and NATO has intercepted some
of the shipments, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.
"There's irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this,"
said Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns on CNN. "It's certainly
coming from the government of Iran. It's coming from the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the
Iranian government."
Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns also said that
NATO needs to act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan
frontier is "a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that
we are there and that we're going to oppose this."
"It's a very serious question," he said, adding that Iran is in
"outright violation" of relevant U.N. Security Council resolutions.
Burns' claims of evidence Tuesday came after he first accused Iran
of supplying the Taliban the day before. Speaking to reporters in
Paris, he said Iran was funding insurrections across the Middle East.
"It's a country that's trying to flex its muscles, but in a way
that's injurious to the interests of just about everybody else in
the world," he said. "I think it's a major miscalculation."
Burns also criticized Iran's perceived intransigence over its
nuclear program, which many Western powers fear masks a plan to
build weapons, though Iran says its intentions are to generate energy.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad shrugged off the West's
criticism Wednesday of Tehran's controversial nuclear program and
said that eventual new U.N. sanctions would not harm Iran.
Speaking to a crowd of several thousand supporters in the city of
Semnan, 150 miles southeast of Tehran during a two-day provincial
trip, the Iranian leader stuck to his belligerent rhetoric.
"This nation will punch its intimidators in the mouth," said
Ahmadinejad, in a reference to U.S.-led group of Western nations
that have chastised Iran over its uranium enrichment. His speech
was broadcast live on state television.
"You — the West — have to know that your resolutions will not be
worth a red cent for the Iranian nation," added Ahmadinejad.
The U.N. Security Council is preparing to debate a third set of
sanctions against the Islamic republic in response to Tehran's
continuing refusal to suspend the enrichment, which can produce
fuel for civilian energy or fissile material for a bomb.
Referring to two previous rounds of sanctions imposed by the
Security Council, Ahmadinejad said they had no negative impact on
his country and reiterated that Iran would not give up its right to
pursue peaceful nuclear technology under any circumstance.
Last week, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said in Afghanistan
that Iranian weapons were falling into the hands of Taliban
fighters, but stopped short of blaming the government itself.
Iran's possible role in aiding insurgents in Iraq has long been
hotly debated, and last month some Western and Persian Gulf
governments charged that the Islamic government in Tehran is also
secretly bolstering Taliban fighters.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Monday, U.S. Army Gen.
Dan McNeill said Taliban fighters are showing signs of better
training, using combat techniques comparable to "an advanced
Western military" in ambushes of U.S. Special Forces soldiers.
"In Afghanistan it is clear that the Taliban is receiving support,
including arms from ... elements of the Iranian regime," British
Prime Minister Tony Blair wrote in the May 31 edition of the
Economist.
Iran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear
program, denies the Taliban accusation, calling it part of a broad
anti-Iranian campaign. Tehran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-
led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni
movement of the Taliban.
------------
Afghan Minister Dismisses U.S. Claims
By SLOBODAN LEKIC
Associated Press, June 14, 2007 10:46 AM
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6708509,00.html
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) - Afghanistan's defense minister on Thursday
dismissed claims by a top U.S. State Department official that there
was ``irrefutable evidence'' that the Iranian government was
providing arms to Taliban rebels.
``Actually, throughout, we have had good relations with Iran and we
believe that the security and stability of Afghanistan are also in
the interests of Iran,'' Abdul Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press.
On Wednesday, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said in
Paris that Tehran was directly supplying weapons to the Taliban. He
told CNN there was ``irrefutable evidence'' that arms shipments
were coming from Iran's government.
The State Department later appeared to step back from Burns'
assertion, but stressed that the United States has proof that
weapons from Iran were reaching Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.
Tehran has denied the accusations. Wardak, who is attending a NATO
defense ministers' meeting in Brussels, also played down
suggestions that Iranian authorities were sending arms shipments to
the Taliban.
``There has been evidence of weapons, but it is difficult to link
it to Iran,'' Wardak said. ``It is possible that (they) might be
from al-Qaida, from the [Russian] mafia or from other sources.''
Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who is attending the Brussels
meeting, also mentioned the alleged weapons transfers from Iran.
``The irony is the Afghan government and the Iranian government
have pretty good relationships,'' Gates told reporters. Gates, who
was in Afghanistan last week, said Afghan President Hamid Karzai
talked to him about the good relationship the two countries have.
Gates speculated that Tehran may be ``trying to play both sides of
the street, hedge their bets, or what their motives are other than
causing trouble for us.''
In a wide-ranging interview with The Associated Press, Wardak said
he would appeal to the defense ministers of NATO and allied
countries to provide greater assistance in the training of Afghan
security forces.
He said the establishment of an effective Afghan air force was a
top priority because air support would enable the army to conduct
independent operations without having to rely so heavily on the
international forces.
It currently operates a handful of Czech-built L-39 jet trainers,
together with some old Soviet Mi-17 helicopters and Antonov An-26
twin-engine transports.
``We have all agreed that the only sustainable way to secure
Afghanistan is to enable the Afghans themselves to defend the
country as they have done for thousands of years. Based on that I
would like to further accelerate the Afghan national security
forces both in numbers and capabilities,'' Wardak said.
---------------------
Top NATO General in Afghanistan:
Iran aiding Karzai, maybe Taliban too
By JASON STRAZIUSO and JOHN DANISZEWSKI
http://www.kansascity.com/451/story/145626.html
U.S. Army Gen. Dan McNeill commander of the NATO's International
Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan speaks during an interview
with the Associated Press in Kabul, Afghanistan, Monday, June 11,
2007. McNeill, the commander of 36,000 troops in NATO's
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, said
indications on the ground cut both ways.
There is "ample evidence" Iran is helping Karzai's [pro-Western]
administration, particularly with road construction and electricity
in western Afghanistan, he told the AP.
But, he added: "I have heard officials in the Afghan government say
that the Iranian government has provided some support to political
opponents of the Karzai administration. I suspect that's probably
true. And I don't doubt that somewhere the Iranians may have helped
the Taliban.
"So what does that add up to? It makes me think of every major
American corporation that gives political campaign money to
different candidates for president of the United States. Somebody
is going to come out on top. The corporation wants to support from
whoever comes out on top."
McNeill, a 60-year-old, four-star general from North Carolina who
has fought in most American conflicts since Vietnam, said he had no
hard evidence the Iranian government has helped the Taliban. He
said munitions, particularly mortar rounds found on Afghan
battlefields, "clearly were made in Iran," but said that does not
prove the Iranian government is formally involved.
"If I had the information, I would have no reservation about saying
it," he said.
In a separate interview Monday, the Iranian ambassador to
Afghanistan rejected the accusation that his government aids the
Taliban.
"This is not correct," Mohammad R. Bahrami told the AP at his
embassy. "The return of extremism in Afghanistan will affect not
only Afghanistan and the region, but the entire world."
Bahrami claimed the U.S. and Britain are making the accusation as
an excuse to "justify their failures" in Afghanistan, such as the
increasing opium poppy production and the resurgence of the Taliban.
Insurgents have stepped up the pace of suicide and roadside
bombings from last year, which saw the most violence since the
Taliban was toppled in late 2001. More than 2,200 people, many of
them insurgents, have died in fighting this year, according to an
AP count based on U.S., NATO and Afghan reports.
McNeill said NATO forces under his command pursued a successful
offensive this spring against insurgents, but he acknowledged
Taliban militants are showing signs of improved training.
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