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Armed men crossed into Afghanistan from Iran: Police
PAK TRIBUNE ^ | 20 Jun 07 | Unknown

Posted on 06/25/2007 6:38:27 PM PDT by elhombrelibre

HERAT: More than 20 armed men crossed the border from Iran into Afghanistan and entered a town, a police commander said in the first such blunt claim by a high-ranking Afghan official.

Colonel Rahmatullah Safi - police commander in the three western provinces of Farah, Badghis and Herat - said according to intelligence information, the group of armed militants crossed the border Monday in Farah's Anardara district.

"Two pickup trucks with over 20 armed people riding in them crossed the border from Iran to Afghanistan," Safi said in his Border Police headquarters, 15 km outside Herat city.

He said according to intelligence information, the men were heading towards Zirkoh area in Farah province, which has been the site of escalating militant activity in recent months.

Safi said the police did not have the opportunity to track down the vehicles but said he had informed President Hamid Karzai and international forces in the country.

"I can say with certainty that the vehicles came from Iranian soil, and if they came from Iran with ammunitions and explosives, of course, they are supported by the Iranian government."

"If the Iranian border forces really want to stop them, they can," he added. "They have one outpost every five to 10 km."

Safi's report of the infiltration comes at a time when US officials have linked Iran's government to large shipments of weaponry to militants in Afghanistan, but Karzai and other Afghan officials have ruled out Iran's involvement and Tehran has also strongly denied funnelling weapons to Afghan militants.

Safi also revealed that during fighting Saturday night between Afghan police and insurgents in the Shindand district of Herat province, which left nine suspected Taliban and two police officers dead, police found the remains of Iranian-made bullets.

He also showed DPA five anti-tank mines that had Iranian markings, which he said were seized at the Afghan-Iran border about two weeks ago.

Safi said his police forces had information that former mujahideen fighters, who forced Soviet forces from Afghanistan and later plunged the country into a bloody civil war, were receiving training in Iranian territory and were sent back to Afghanistan to carry out attacks against the government and international forces.

In April, US officials said Iranian-made weapons had showed up in the hands of the Taliban. The Pentagon's top general, Peter Pace, said NATO forces in Afghanistan had seized Iranian-made mortars and explosives destined for the Taliban.

Last week, a top US State Department official charged in a CNN interview that the US has "irrefutable evidence" that Iran is arming Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

Although not mimicking the strong nature of Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns' remarks, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said a day later that large weapons' shipments were crossing from Iran into Afghanistan and it was unlikely Tehran did not know about them.

"Given the quantities that we're seeing, it is difficult to believe that it is associated with smuggling or the drug business or that it's taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government," Gates said.

Afghan Defence Minister Abdul Rahim Wardak, however, rejected Iran's involvement in supplying militants in a media interview, arguing that Kabul and Tehran have good relations and a stable Afghanistan is in Iran's interest. He said there was evidence weapons were coming from Iran but suggested they were from the Al Qaeda terrorist network or drug traffickers.

Gates also mentioned the good relations between the Afghan and Iranian government. "Whether Iran is trying to play both sides of the street, hedge their bets, what their motives are, other than causing trouble for us, I don't know," the US defence chief said.


TOPICS: Breaking News; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: afghanistan; bombirannow; flypaperstrategy; geopolitics; globaljihad; iran; iraniantroops; wot
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To: DevSix

The IED technology has evolved, and the Chinese MANPADS are not identical to our Stingers. I do think every tool has its own idiosyncrasies. When we field a new weapon, we send trainers to our soldiers. Plus, the people Iran is training are probably not the very same ones who’ve been fighting for the last 30 years.


41 posted on 06/25/2007 7:46:55 PM PDT by elhombrelibre
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To: TBall

I trust Bush. There’s something liberating about a 28% approval rating - it’s as though it cannot get any worse. I know the Iranians will misread that fact, but I trust the President will unload on them at the right time. It’s going to be a long, hot summer.


42 posted on 06/25/2007 7:48:18 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken (Seldom right but never in doubt)
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To: elhombrelibre

When will Mr. Cruise Missile be visiting the mullahs?


43 posted on 06/25/2007 7:51:24 PM PDT by doug from upland (Stopping Hillary should be a FreeRepublic Manhattan Project)
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To: Wally_Kalbacken
I trust Bush

You just lost me there. Anyone who will take the oath of office, to only then proceed to sell US Sovereignty away, and to try to give amnesty to 20 million illegal invaders, all while supposedly fighting a war on terror....

Sorry - I no longer trust him.

44 posted on 06/25/2007 8:05:39 PM PDT by TheBattman (I've got TWO QUESTIONS for you....)
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To: doug from upland

Let’s hope soon.


45 posted on 06/25/2007 8:05:54 PM PDT by elhombrelibre
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To: sageb1

Bush has a Casus Belli
if he chooses.


46 posted on 06/25/2007 8:10:15 PM PDT by BlackJack ("Predictions are difficult, especially as regards the future" Mark Twain.)
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To: elhombrelibre

Can’t say I’m surprised with that one

IMO .. we are being played with


47 posted on 06/25/2007 8:12:51 PM PDT by Mo1 ( http://www.gohunter08.com)
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To: elhombrelibre
Of course (regarding new systems all having their own idiosyncrasies)...but there is more then enough military knowhow within the Mujahideen, Taliban, Chechen, Uzbek fighters community to handle and learn such new syncrasies...

Iran is without question giving aid, weapons and some limited training I'd suspect to Shia fighters in Iraq....but the notion they are giving training of any real value of level to the fighters we are facing in Stan....I just don't buy (hell, we'd be better off if they do....The guys we are fighting in Stan are much more proficient then are the Iranians).

48 posted on 06/25/2007 8:13:18 PM PDT by SevenMinusOne
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To: Man50D
It's going to be a long WWIII.

No, it will be short, 60 days max. But the repercussions will last for generations..

49 posted on 06/25/2007 8:37:22 PM PDT by cardinal4
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To: Dog

I was reading USS Enterprise battle group is about to arrive into the gulf region. That makes three now, joining the USS Stennis and USS Nimitz currently in the persian gulf.


50 posted on 06/25/2007 8:39:08 PM PDT by Proud_USA_Republican (We're going to take things away from you on behalf of the common good. - Hillary Clinton)
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To: elhombrelibre

Bush would say that they are just doing the work that Afghanis won’t do. It’s all in the interest of commerce.


51 posted on 06/25/2007 8:49:39 PM PDT by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Elections have consequences.)
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To: elhombrelibre
Turkey Bombards Kurdish Border Villages
52 posted on 06/25/2007 8:55:26 PM PDT by blam (Secure the border then, Introduce an Illegal Immigrant Deportation Bill)
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To: cripplecreek

bttt


53 posted on 06/25/2007 9:05:54 PM PDT by ConservativeMan55
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

I’m afraid that Bush has become a girly-man.


54 posted on 06/25/2007 9:27:41 PM PDT by cilbupeR_eerF
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To: Proud_USA_Republican

cry havoc and turn loose the dogs of war


55 posted on 06/25/2007 9:34:05 PM PDT by alfie (peace through superior firepower)
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To: elhombrelibre

They need to quit whining about Iran....


56 posted on 06/25/2007 9:41:33 PM PDT by TheDon (The DemocRAT party is the party of TREASON! Overthrow the terrorist's congress!)
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To: Keflavik76
Does President Bush really believe that the last election mandated surrender and weakness in the face of aggression?

Yes.

57 posted on 06/25/2007 9:53:18 PM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast
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To: elhombrelibre

They’re just getting ready for hunting season. Afghanistan is like Michigan’s U.P. to Iran.


58 posted on 06/25/2007 9:53:55 PM PDT by Disambiguator
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To: TBall

That’s an ignorant remark.


59 posted on 06/25/2007 10:08:04 PM PDT by Merlinator (The dems think pulling out is a good idea? It would have been a good strategy for their daddies.)
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To: Man50D

IV, we lost almost 100,000 KIA in III. It wasn’t cold.


60 posted on 06/25/2007 10:23:07 PM PDT by ASA Vet
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