From the border areas between Iran and Afghanistan, there are reports of a buildup of military forces on both sides.
Mazari Sharif, April 24 - Sangar, Qari Ahmad. The Taliban* have been resorting to violence, threats, and coercion against Iran for two months now under any pretext.
A source at the Islam Qala border checkpoint in Herat province told Sangar that Taliban forces from Herat and elsewhere are moving towards the Iran-Afghan border with tanks, artillery, and infantry to strengthen their military formation.
“Iran, for its part, has sent the 88th Armored Division of the Iranian army in Zahedan to the Islam Qala border, is reinforcing its presence with heavily armored vehicles, and by all appearances, the situation on both sides of the border is very tense,” the source said.
Iran and Afghanistan share 921 km of border. Iran has been the backbone of the Taliban in their rise to power and has worked closely with the terrorist group during the 20 years of US and NATO presence.
The first armed conflict between Iranian border guards and Taliban militants occurred on the Afghan-Iranian border on December 1, 2021, which resulted in several deaths on both sides, and the Taliban occupied seven Iranian border checkpoints.
On April 5, an Afghan citizen stabbed to death three Iranian clerics at the Razavi Shrine in Mashhad, sparking a number of incidents of humiliation, persecution, and even brutal killings of Afghan citizens across Iran. The Taliban even then threatened Iran and launched a military operation on its border, until the involvement of ISIS and the provocation of Saudi Arabia and the United States were announced.
On April 23, the Taliban took Iranian soldiers hostage. This came after Afghan border guards planned to build a road on the border between the two countries, which was opposed by Iranian border guards. Following this, the Iranian-Afghan border at the Islam-Qala checkpoint was completely closed.
Others link the incidents on the Iran-Afghan border to skirmishes between smugglers, but there are no details about this. Islam-Qala is the main point for the transfer of goods as well as drugs between the two countries.
Meanwhile, Sangar's interlocutors are adamant that the Taliban and Iran have neither the desire nor the strength for war, and anti-Iran actions are provoked by the US and Saudi Arabia.
“It is interesting that the Taliban have nothing to eat, but they want to build a checkpoint or a road on the Iranian border. This is a deliberate action aimed at provoking Iran,” one of them said.
A few days ago, the Taliban defense minister, Mullah Yaqub, also said at a ceremony that the neighbors are a lot of trouble for the Taliban, but there is a limit to their patience.
There has never been an Afghan-Iranian war in history. This state of war took place in 1998 during the first Taliban rule in Afghanistan (1996-2001) after the assassination of 11 Iranian diplomats and a journalist in Mazar-i-Sharif. At that time, Iran deployed about 150,000 troops to the border with Afghanistan, but the conflict soon died down.
Over the past 20 years, the Taliban and Iran have been very close in the war against the US and NATO, but recent events indicate a change in these relations and it seems that Iran is reaping the benefits of cooperation with a terrorist organization.
*The organization is under UN sanctions for terrorist activities.
