HERAT CITY (SW) – Findings by Salam Watandar indicate Iran’s all-powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps or most commonly known as ‘Pasdaran’ are behind the Taliban’s deadly assaults in Herat and Farah provinces in Afghanistan.
Earlier this month, after three days of siege and killing of about 30 soldiers, the Taliban captured the Lash Jowin district of Farah province. One day later, Anar Dara district of the province also fell to the Taliban. Following the clashes, security forces moved the Pushtkoh district headquarters of Farah province to Farah city to prevent the deaths of besieged soldiers at an army base north of Anar Dara, hence all three districts fell to the Taliban. .
The information obtained by Salam Watandar indicate that behind the fall of these three districts was the hand of the IRGC as it took over management of the war in Farah province by distributing money, heavy and light weapons to the Taliban.
A source told Salam Watandar that three Taliban commanders, Rashid, Shakur Baryalai and Sardar Shakun, were in charge of the fighting and the fall of these districts, and they were robustly supported by Iran.
According to reports, one night after the Taliban took control of Lash Jowin district, light and heavy weapons, explosives and other ammunition were transported from Iran via six Toyota vehicles to the Taliban.
According to the source, the weapons also included anti-helicopter weapons used against Afghan security forces.
Meanwhile, another source in Farah said that the explosives that exploded on a building in the Anar Dara district of the province had been given to the Taliban by Iranian security forces.
The source added that the Taliban were now planning attacks on the center of Farah.
According to the source, with the Taliban’s capture of Farah’s three districts, Iranian troops can now easily reach the insecure Khashrod district of Nimroz and even Helmand province and from there to the central provinces of Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, another security source said that the Iranian army, with the support of the Taliban, had taken control of the Anar Dara district, next to the Shindand district of Herat province, in order to gain access to Ghor, Faryab and Badghis provinces.
Representatives of the people of Farah in the Wolesi Jirga (lowr house) have confirmed the involvement of Iranian Revolutionary Guards in the province saying that the fighting in the districts is being managed by the Iranians.
Humayun Shahidzada, a member of the WJ from Farah province, told Salam Watandar that documents and credible reports prove these claims. He said that after the Taliban and Iranian forces captured the Lash Jowin district, they treated wounded soldiers on the battlefield at the district’s health centers.
He added that according to the documents obtained, before the Taliban’s attack, eight Iranian soldiers, most of them Afghan refugees living in Iran, had come to the district from the Iranian border and joined the Taliban.
The lawmaker stressed that Iran, with the help of the Taliban, wants to take control of the Kamal Khan, Salma and Bakhshabad dams in the western part of the country.
According to Humayun Shahidzada, the documents show that the Taliban are provided with all the weapons and ammunition they need without delay from Iran. He added that the current war in Afghanistan is not with the Taliban, but with hostile regional intelligence agencies, especially the Iranian and Pakistani.
Meanwhile, Abdul Satar Hussaini, another MP, accused Iran of supporting the Taliban in the entire western part of the country. He told Salam Watandar that the documents he had obtained showed that the fighting in Lash Jowin was managed by Iranian generals and that Iranian troops were actually fighting in the province.
He also said that Iran had transported weapons and explosives to the Taliban via “Toyota” vehicles after the fall of Lash Jowin district. He added that most of these weapons are advanced and are used to shoot down helicopters.
Farah Governor Massoud Bakhtawar also acknowledged Iran’s involvement in the fighting in the province. He said that central government officials should express their views in this regard and governors could not express their views in this regard.
The governor added that the security forces were forced to hand over their posts in Anar Dara and Pushtkoh districts of the province to the Taliban.
The Farah governor assured that the security forces were ready to retake the districts of Lash Jowin, Anar Dara and Pushtkoh and that the security forces were currently working on a plan to retake the districts.
He acknowledged the security problems in the districts of the province and stressed that the security forces are capable of defending and can secure the area.
Elsewhere, a local source in Herat’s Chisht district said that the Taliban had cordoned off the area.
The commander of the Salma Dam battalion, Allah Mohammad Hamdard, told Salam Watandar that the Dara Takht area east of Chisht was now under Taliban control and that Ghor Shahrak and Tolak, north of the dam, as well as Lash Jowin of Farah and Herat’s Obe districts to the west remained under the Taliban control.
Hamdard, however, reassured that the alert force with high morale can protect that dam, but said that the threat of Taliban attacks on security posts at the dam had increased in recent weeks. Hamdard said he had been urging local officials in Herat for a month to send commandos and special forces to protect the Salma Dam, but said he had not yet received a clear response.
The commander of the Salma Dam battalion added reinforcements need to be sent to protect the dam, so that they can patrol the villages around the dam and the Taliban cannot penetrate in those areas.
He said security checkpoints had been set up at every five kilometers to protect the Salma Dam, but more troops were needed to patrol the villages around it.
He also confirmed the Iranian support for the Taliban in the district and the group’s efforts to gain control of the Salma Dam.
Meanwhile, Herat governor’s spokesman Jilani Farhad said that there were significant troops in the province to defeat the Taliban and that they would be deployed to districts if needed.
Earlier this year, the Taliban attacked a group of border forces in the Musaabad area of Ghorian district in Herat killing a number of security forces and capturing many more.
The source, who did not want to be named, told Salam Watandar that after that attack the border guards’ bases had fallen into the hands of the Taliban with the support of Iran.
According to the source, when the Afghan Air Force came to the rescue of besieged border guards, near the Iranian border, they lost control of their choppers to the Iranian jammers and could only manage to return to their bases with difficulty.
The source added that when the Afghan pilots landed the helicopter, they were bleeding from their ears and noses and were being treated in hospital for a week.
According to the source, intelligence reports indicate that the jammer device was given to the Iranians by Russia.
Political analysts, meanwhile, have called the ongoing war in Afghanistan as an undeclared war on Afghanistan by the two countries, particularly Iran and Pakistan. The only way out of the current crisis, they said, is for the Afghans to unite.
Meanwhile, the Iranian consulate in Herat told Salam Watandar that they were not involved in the fighting in the Lash Jowin district of Farah, nor did they provide weapons and other military equipment to the Taliban.
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