Why does the Taliban prefer the US to Iran?
Author: Rustam Rushangar, analyst, especially for Sangar
Last night, while looking through the news, I came across two pieces of news that seemed interesting to me, at the time causing regret, but in need of analysis and commentary.
The first news was that Hussein Kazemi Qumi, Iran's special envoy to Afghanistan, criticized the Taliban's approach to accepting assistance to flood victims and said that the golden time for assisting has been lost and the Taliban are wasting time in discussions and coordination. He said the same situation happened during the Herat earthquake and the ability to assist fell victim to coordination and discussions.
The second news was that the Taliban representative (whose name and position I have forgotten at the moment) said in a meeting with the UN representative that we do not want the Afghan people to depend on foreign aid. That is, he rejected international aid agencies because receiving this aid would make people dependent on foreign aid.
This is even though various foreign aid agencies, including the United Nations, have warned many times over the past year about the worsening humanitarian crisis and disaster in Afghanistan and have stated that more than twenty million people in Afghanistan need urgent assistance and live in poverty and squalor.
Comments:
1 - Both news are similar from this point of view, which shows: the Taliban does not care about the pain and suffering of the people and only thinks about imposing and implementing their stupid ideas and thoughts of its system and power. The world says that we want to help millions of starving people in Afghanistan, the pot-bellied Taliban, who have many sources of income and have achieved their bread and butter, arrogantly tell them that it is none of your business, we and our people know! A people whose pain and grief are not shared by the Taliban, who believe that these people are accomplices of crime and aggression, collaborated with the so-called blasphemous American system and deserve to be suppressed, condemned, and punished!
2 - The Iran Special Envoy's criticism shows that the relationship between the Taliban and Iran is not what it appears to be. This shows that the Taliban will not allow Iran to operate more freely in Afghanistan. This shows that the Taliban, even in emergencies where they must accept anyone's help unconditionally, are skeptical about accepting Iranian help. Their idea is that Iran will take political action against the wishes of the Taliban under the pretext of helping the victims. This shows a high level of mistrust and darkness in the relationship. This shows a high level of mistrust and darkness in the relationship. Usually, in emergencies, governments even accept the help of their enemies.
At the same time, the flood toll is extremely high and unprecedented, and a great disaster has occurred. Thousands of people have been killed, injured, missing, and homeless, and there is a need for large-scale national, regional, and global relief operations. Disaster response agencies have been severely limited in their ability to assist. The Taliban is in hiding, unwilling to help, and does not accept outside help. The situation is quite difficult. Residents of neighboring areas carry aid to flood victims on their backs.
3 - The refusal to accept Iranian assistance in an emergency means that the unilateral efforts of Taliban supporters in the Islamic Republic of Iran to ensure stable relations with the Taliban have not produced the expected results. This is considered a major diplomatic failure for Qumi, who is perhaps the only defender and promoter of friendly relations with the Taliban, whose harsh criticism could be interpreted as a sign of his anger and frustration over his fruitless efforts in this direction. Mr. Koumi always finds himself at the center of a wave of criticism of relations between Iran and the Taliban, defending these relations and promising to be patient and that everything will be fine. His recent criticism of the Taliban could give his opponents a strong case.
It should be said that Iran's former diplomatic team in Kabul, especially Zahravand, has constantly warned that Iran's relations with the Taliban are on the wrong track and need a serious overhaul. Most likely, Qumi is trying to make himself look good through the business relationships (especially in selling oil and gas to Afghanistan) that he maintains with some parts of the Taliban. Something that sometimes leads to a dead end.
4 - The Taliban's skepticism towards Iran's good intentions, even in emergencies and relief operations, is shown by the fact that the influence of Western and anti-Iranian countries is strong among the Taliban, and Iran is wasting rapprochement efforts.
Of course, one of the implications of this Taliban behavior is that the group follows an undeclared policy that can be summarized as taking from everyone, trusting no one, doing the job, and caring about no one. This policy is based on distrust of everyone. From this point of view, the Taliban remains an orphan who was wronged by everyone as a child and who lost trust in everyone, and now he thinks that he has reached maturity and that this is his chance to take revenge. But the first hypothesis is more likely, which is the influence of Western intelligence on the Taliban, which makes this group unable to establish stable, defined relations with the countries of the region.
5 - The fact is that the Taliban are a very controversial group. Within this group, there are different forces, each of which works in a certain direction and is in contact with different countries. All countries involved in Afghanistan have their influence on this group and promote their competition through them. The USA has its influential people, England has its own, Iran has its own, Pakistan has its own, etc. Only sometimes in individual cases does it become clear which country has more influence than others.
It seems that Iran has suffered the most, and Iranian “fighting chickens” are not very popular among the Taliban, on the contrary, US dollars strengthen the bases of American “fighting chickens”, and in important situations, American proxies play the first fiddle. And this offends and angers the rest of the Taliban.
Iran mainly relies on religious, historical, and ideological commonality in its closeness with the Taliban, and the Taliban does not understand these things. This is a bunch of illiterate students, devoid of spiritual and sublime values, who know only money and power. They put themselves up for bargaining, like prostitutes, and they are not monogamous - they will be affectionate with those who give the most money. Packets of American dollars are more popular with the Taliban than the obvious religious and ideological similarities that many mistakenly believe the Taliban are committed to.