ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN – Iranian Special Envoy for Afghanistan, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, says that suicide bombers would be deployed from Afghanistan to help Gaza if needed.
In an interview with an Iranian media outlet, Mr. Qomi said that “more than one army of suicide bomber” would be sent from Afghanistan to help the people of Gaza in their fight against Israel. Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, in the Iranian diplomat’s words, is part of the “axis of resistance”, a term Iran uses to brand the group of anti-western parties and militant organizations under its support across the Middle East.
In the aftermath of September 11 attacks, the former US President George W. Bush called a group of anti-American countries that included Iran an “axis of evil” that should be dismantled. The US war on terror that began by its air campaign against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan was primarily aimed at targeting the axis that the US claimed supported Al Qaeda and international terrorism.
When asked whether his remarks pertained to the people of Afghanistan or the Taliban regime, the Iranian envoy said that Afghanistan has battled occupying forces for decades, emphasizing that the interest in the Gaza conflict cannot be attributed solely to one ethnicity or group in Afghanistan.
Following the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, the Islamic Republic, unlike during the first period of Taliban rule from 1995 to 2001, pursued a more welcoming policy toward the Taliban and initiated contact with the group even before the US withdrawal from the country.
Against a bloody historical backdrop, Iran had built strong ties with the insurgency in Afghanistan long before the group retook control of the country. In the 1990s, the Taliban stormed the Iranian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i Sharif, executing eight Iranian diplomats and one journalist,
During the Western presence in Afghanistan, Iran supplied the Taliban insurgency with weapons, finances, and military training. In May 2016, the Taliban supreme leader, Akhtar Mohammad Mansour, was killed by a US drone strike while he was returning from Iran to the group’s main base of operation in Pakistan.
Iran was one of the few countries that kept its embassy in Kabul open in the wake of Taliban’s return to power. Despite tensions on the border and over water rights in the Helmand River, Iran’s engagement with the Taliban has only grown.
The Taliban has not yet responded to the remarks made by the Iranian envoy.
Contrary to earlier concerns about the Taliban’s reactions to the escalation of conflict in the Middle East, the group has appeared more cautious than anticipated. Taliban’s religious and political authorities have sufficed to condemn Israel’s military campaign in Gaza and allowing small rallies in support of the Palestinians.
