US Blames Iran’s Quds Force for Afghan Failures

Gen. McChrystal Adopts Time-Honored Strategy of Accusing Iran

by Jason Ditz, September 21, 2009

Citing the heavily redacted assessment of the war in Afghanistan, US officials are accusing the Iranian Revolution Guard’s Quds Force of supporting the insurgency in general and the Taliban in particular.

General McChrystal, the author of the assessment, alleges that the Iranian influence in the nation has been increasing recently, to what one official termed “very troubling” proportions.

The general appears to be adopting the time-honored strategy of the leadership in the Iraq War, which regularly pointed the finger at Iran with unsubstantiated claims of meddling which continued long after the leadership was actually looking for excuses for their assorted failures.

The Taliban was a long-standing enemy of the Iranian government, and while they haven’t been as close with President Karzai as they have with Iraq’s Shi’ite government, it seems incredibly unlikely that Iran is actually seeking to return the Taliban to power.

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