Gen. McChrystal: Clear Evidence That the Taliban Are Training In Iran

Oh boy, big huge surprise, huh? The Taliban have received weapons and training from the Iranians? Let me catch my breath here! (sarcasm off) You know, after hundreds and hundreds of documented accounts of the Iranians providing weaponry, training and personnel to the insurgency in the Iraq War, why has it taken all of this time for at least someone to point a finger at Iran for their efforts against U.S. troops in Afghanistan?

Well, Gen. Stanley McChrystal finally dispelled any doubt that the Iranians are actively working to help kill U.S. and NATO troops with this statement, taken from the article at Breitbart:

The commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Sunday there is "clear evidence" that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the Afghan capital that Iran—Afghanistan's western neighbor—has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity—in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban—that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

I have to tell you, I about had a fit during a big portion of the Iraq War in that the U.S. did not take direct action against the Iranians for what they did to spill American blood in Iraq - I called for it time after time that Iranian personnel captured in Iraq should be either placed in Gitmo or put to death and I also called for U.S. action inside of Iran's borders to stop the flow of IED technology into the Iraqi War zone.

And now, we see that the light of day has shone on the Iranian support of the Taliban and I'm sure we'll see absolutely nothing come of it. Let's put this in a different perspective - let's just imagine that during World War 2, while the U.S. was fighting the Japanese in the South Pacific, it was determined that North Korea was providing the Japanese on new weaponry that was killing a ton of our Marines and sailors - do you think there would have been any hesitation to take out that North Korean supply line? Hell no.

And I'm not going to blame all of this on the new Commander-in-Chief Obama because the fact of the matter is that George W. Bush was in charge when it was common knowledge that the Iranians were helping to kill our troops in Iraq.

I have to ask the question again: Just why is it that the Iranians continue to get a free pass for aggression against the rest of the world? Why is it that Iran has never had to pay the price for backing terrorism and death against the West?

NATO general in Afghanistan: Taliban train in Iran


KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - The commander of NATO and U.S. forces in Afghanistan said Sunday there is "clear evidence" that some Taliban fighters have trained in Iran.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal told reporters in the Afghan capital that Iran—Afghanistan's western neighbor—has generally assisted the Afghan government in fighting the insurgent group.

"There is, however, clear evidence of Iranian activity—in some cases providing weaponry and training to the Taliban—that is inappropriate," he said. McChrystal said NATO forces are working to stop both the training and the weapons trafficking.

Last month, McChrystal said there were indications that Taliban were training in Iran, but not very many and not in a way that it appeared it was part of an Iranian government policy. He did not give details on how many people have trained in Iran at Sunday's news conference.

NATO said a service member was killed Sunday in a small arms attack in southern Afghanistan, taking overall NATO losses in May to 49, according to a tally by The Associated Press. That makes May the deadliest month for foreign troops in Afghanistan since a spike in February during a major offensive in Marjah, when 53 died, including 31 Americans.

The nationality of the service member killed Sunday was not released. May is already the deadliest month for U.S. forces this year, with 32 troops killed. The month also brought the 1,000th U.S. military death in the Afghan war since it began in 2001.

The AP's figures are based on Defense Department reports of deaths as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan. Non-U.S. deaths are based on statements by governments that have contributed forces to the coalition.

The Taliban have spread out beyond their heartland in the south in recent years to increasingly launch attacks countrywide.

In the north, insurgents detonated a remote-controlled bomb Sunday as a police convoy passed by, killing seven officers in a province previously considered to be relatively safe, said deputy provincial Gov. Shams-ul Rahman.

The attack was the deadliest of a half-dozen separate incidents across the country.

In nearby Kunduz province, militants attacked a police checkpoint in Ali Abad district, triggering a gunbattle that killed three insurgents and wounded seven others, the Interior Ministry said.

In eastern Paktia province, NATO planes dropped guided bombs on Saturday to kill a team of militants that had fired mortars at coalition forces in Zormat district.

And NATO and Afghan forces killed one suspected militant and detained several others at a compound in southern Helmand province where bomb-making equipment was found. Coalition patrols arrested other suspected insurgents in operations elsewhere in Helmand and neighboring Kandahar, both considered Taliban strongholds.

In Ghazni, also in the south, militants on Sunday attacked a convoy of fuel tankers on a road regularly used as a resupply route for NATO forces. The assault left the trucks burning but caused no injuries.

"I saw the convoy moving in the morning and then suddenly I heard an explosion. Fighting started and lasted for 30 to 45 minutes. They burned a lot of containers," said local resident Azrat Shah.

McChrystal stressed to reporters that the Afghanistan fight will extend long beyond July 2011, when President Barack Obama plans to start drawing down forces.

In recent meetings with President Hamid Karzai, Obama "reaffirmed the strategic partnership, which is way beyond July 2011," McChrystal said. "I think President Obama's decision to begin the reduction of U.S. forces in 2011 really needs to be viewed in that context."

However, the strategic partnership depends on being able to transfer some responsibility to Afghan forces, which are still plagued by a lack of training and distrust of the people despite years of training programs funded by the international community.

The Marjah offensive has been followed by the re-infiltration of Taliban forces into the area despite a continuing strong U.S. Marine presence.

"We've dramatically changed the state of the insurgency in that region," McChrystal said, while acknowledging that "progress there is not yet fully established."

A summer offensive planned for the Taliban birthplace of Kandahar will be similarly painstaking, McChrystal said. The plan is to focus on delivering services like electricity and water, he explained.

"Progress will be measured in months, rather than days," he said.

Also Sunday, Canada said the chief of its forces in Afghanistan, Brig. Gen. Daniel Menard, was being relieved following allegations of an inappropriate relationship. Col. Simon Hetherington, the acting commander of Canada's forces, said Menard's dismissal would not have an impact on the Canadian mission in southern Afghanistan.