Pentagon Courted Iran on Afghan Economic Aid

Special Task Force Sought Iranian Business Ties

After 13+ years of military occupation, the Pentagon has made everything in Afghanistan their business, and that includes the non-existent private sector economy.

In this regard, the Pentagon reportedly established a special task force explicitly charged with courting Iranian businesses to establish ties with Afghanistan’s few viable companies.

The talks aimed particularly at getting customers for Afghanistan’s pharmaceutical company, and business relations for four fledgling mines established in Afghanistan. They all failed.

The lack of an economy in Afghanistan is a big problem in the long-run for the occupation, as the Afghan government will never be able to pay for its own massive military, leaving the US to bankroll it.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.