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Iran gives Taliban hi-tech weapons to fight British
 British troops in Helmand province fighting the Taliban face a new danger as sophisticated Iranian weapons and explosives are being smuggled into Afghanistan. In the dusty frontier town of Islam Qala, near Herat, on the Afghan side of the border with Iran, weapons and explosives such as armour-piercing roadside bombs are being trafficked to the insurgents. The news that Taliban rebels are being armed with Iranian-supplied weapons poses an added threat to the 5,000 British troops battling insurgents in southern Afghanistan. I have to tell the truth. It is clear to everyone that Iran is supporting the enemy of Afghanistan, the Taliban, Colonel Rahmatullah Safi, head of border police for western Afghanistan, told The Sunday Times.
The deadliest weapons known to cross the border are Iranian-made armour-piercing explosives. Colonel Thomas Kelly, an American under the command of Nato, said that the explosives that have been used to deadly effect in Iraq have been found recently in western Afghanistan. These are very sophisticated IEDs [improvised explosive devices] and theyre really not manufactured in any other place to our knowledge than Iran, he said, adding that the explosives were factory made. He stopped short of saying they were supplied by the Iranian government. Along with supplies of Kalashnikov assault rifles and mortars, Afghan military sources fear that the Iranians may also have supplied heat-seeking missiles. International forces rely heavily on helicopters to transport troops as the roads are too dangerous to drive along, but they are especially vulnerable to this kind of weaponry. What is of particular concern to British and US troops is that the Taliban could get their hands on the modern Manpad (man-portable air defence system), a highly mobile shoulder-launched surface-to-air missile. Posted by: Steve White 2007-08-06 |
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