Posted on 03/21/2010 10:28:52 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
LONDON (AFP) – Hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill NATO forces in Afghanistan, two Taliban commanders told a British Sunday newspaper.
The unnamed commanders told The Sunday Times that Iranian officials paid them to attend three-month courses in desert training camps in southeast Iran.
They were taught how to carry out complex ambushes and lay improvised explosive devices (IEDs), the roadside bombs which have been responsible for many of the deaths of British troops in Afghanistan.
One of the commanders told the newspaper that the military's crackdown in Pakistan was forcing Taliban leaders to turn to Iran for assistance and training.
"The military is pressuring the Taliban in Pakistan. It is certainly harder to reach places that were once easy to get into. I think more of my fighters will travel to Iran for training this year," he said.
A commander from Wardak in central Afghanistan said: "I found some elements of the training in Iran very useful, especially the escape and evasion techniques I was taught."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
US Marines depart at sunrise after spending the night at a farm during a 24-hour foot operation in a poppy field area in Marjah, Helmand province, southern Afghanistan, on March 19., Hundreds of insurgents have been trained in Iran to kill NATO forces in Afghanistan, two Taliban commanders told a British Sunday newspaper. (AFP/File/Mauricio Lima)
Yes, well, so be it.
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