Iran is the seat of the unpopular Shiite minority of Muslim worshippers. As you know from earlier blogs, this 15% constituency of all Islam (Sunnis make up almost the entire balance) has mystical views of the Qur’an that conflicts strongly with the literal reading of that holy book attributed by Sunnis clerics. Iran also seeks to become the most powerful political and military power in the Middle East, a threat that is not taken lightly by Sunni neighbors like Wahhabi-fundamentalist Saudi Arabia or Taliban leaders. Iran has poured untold stacks of cash and weapons, provided training and other support, to its terrorist arm, the Hezbollah, a group that has proven particularly challenging to Israel in bordering regions. What Hezbollah is to Shiites, al Qaeda is to Sunnis.
The fact that Iran is a Shiite Islamic republic would thus normally seal its fate as a regional powerhouse, but Iran’s leadership is undeterred. It has funneled tons of money and weapons into such Sunni strongholds as Palestine’s Fatah struggle against Israel. It has symbolized one Muslim nation’s willingness to confront Israel, the United States and the rest of the Western world on the battlefield (see my recent Iran’s New Protectorate – Iraq blog) and on the international stage (as it foments its nuclear weapons programs in bold defiance of global sanctions). Iran has achieved a populist folk-hero status among grassroots Sunnis populations throughout the Middle East and beyond, to Sunnis in places like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, much to the consternation of powerful governments with strong ties to Sunni purism.
And so we come to the Sunni stronghold we call “Afghanistan.” The Taliban are profoundly anti-Shiite and have long set Iranian leaders into defensive strategies. At one time, with Afghanistan on one side, and Saddam Hussein’s Sunnis government on the other (Iran fought a ten-year war against Hussein), Iran was surrounded by hostile forces and antithetical religious practices. Thanks to the United States, Iraq has been at least neutralized if not actually added to Iran’s direct sphere of influence (the majority of Iraqis are Shiites). The attention has shifted to Afghanistan; Iran has no pretentions that it will generate a strong entente with Saudi Arabia in the south.
But since the Taliban – who are increasingly becoming political pragmatists to regain power – are heavily aligned with anti-Shiite sentiments, Iran has moved to that “man who plays ball with anybody with cash” – Afghan’s mega-corrupt Hamid Karzai and his band of Merry “Swiss Bank Depositors.” Karzai leads a strong Sunni nation; Shiites have long been persecuted in his land. But money talks. This little excerpt from the October 23rd New York Times: “One evening last August, as President Hamid Karzai wrapped up an official visit to Iran, his personal plane sat on the airport tarmac, waiting for a late-running passenger: Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan… The ambassador, Feda Hussein Maliki, finally appeared, taking a seat next to Umar Daudzai, Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff and his most trusted confidant. According to an Afghan official on the plane, Mr. Maliki handed Mr. Daudzai a large plastic bag bulging with packets of euro bills. A second Afghan official confirmed that Mr. Daudzai carried home a large bag of cash. ‘This is the Iranian money,’ said an Afghan official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ‘Many of us noticed this.’…
“The bag of money is part of a secret, steady stream of Iranian cash intended to buy the loyalty of Mr. Daudzai and promote Iran’s interests in the presidential palace, according to Afghan and Western officials here. Iran uses its influence to help drive a wedge between the Afghans and their American and NATO benefactors, they say… ‘Karzai knows that without the U.S., he is finished,’ an associate of the president said. ‘But it’s like voodoo. Daudzai is the source of all the problems with the U.S. He is systematically feeding hi m misinformation, disinformation and wrong information.’… The payments to Mr. Daudzai illustrate the degree to which the Iranian government has penetrated Mr. Karzai’s inner circle despite his presumed alliance with the United States and the other NATO countries, which have sustained him with military forces and billions of dollars since the Taliban’s ouster since 2001.”
The October 25 New York Times continues, noting that the Karzai regime doesn’t care if the world knows about this practice, but they’re only admitting to a measly $2 million a year: “President Hamid Karzai acknowledged [October 25th] that his chief of staff had taken money from the Iranian government, confirming a report in The New York Times. He said the cash was used to pay for presidential expenses…His government will continue to receive the payments, which amount to no more than about $1 million twice a year, he said at a news conference with the visiting president of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmonov, adding that the money is part of a relationship between neighbors… ‘They have asked for good relations in return, and for lots of other things in return,’ said Mr. Karzai of the Iranians.” Yup, that seems to say it all. We have many enemies; too bad we keep supporting many of them, letting them increase our deficit with almost no benefit to us in return, and giving us the honor of having kept one of the most corrupt regimes in history in power. I’m hearing that State Farm jingle in my head: “Like a good neighbor, Iran money is there…..”
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