The Islamic Republic of Iran is one of Afghanistan’s neighboring countries, which shares a common language, culture and religion with the people of Afghanistan. Iran, especially after the “Islamic Revolution” in that country, has had close relations with the governments and people of Afghanistan. But in most cases, Tehran has intervened in Afghanistan’s internal affairs to secure his own interests.
Iran’s government, which is more ideological, has always been afraid of the functioning of democratic governments based on modern values in Afghanistan. With the coming to power of the People’s Democratic Party, which had the support of the former Soviet Union, the Islamic Revolution took place in Iran under the leadership of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and the “monarchy regime” fell. Iran’s Mullahs’ government was worried about the implementation of such a regime in Afghanistan.
Although the Democratic Party of Afghanistan was also a regime with leftist ideas and influenced by “communism”, it was not like Iran. This issue forced Iran to start supporting Shiite Islamist groups to create obstacles for the current government of Afghanistan.
Of course, he also achieved some successes in this regard. The groups that had the support of the Iranian government played a large role in the civil wars. But despite the new order in Afghanistan and the presence of NATO forces led by the United States of America, Iran did not play a significant role in Afghanistan’s internal relations.
At first, Iran tried to raise its position in Afghan relations by financially supporting the office of the previous president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai. However, the US played a key role in major national decisions and Iran’s efforts failed. Iran changed its approach and returned to the trick of the seventies and provided financial and arms support to the Taliban group against the Afghan government and American forces. In some cases, it also provided shelter for Taliban leaders.
Although the Taliban and Iran did not have a good relationship after the killing of the diplomats of this country in Mazar-e-Sharif by the Taliban, but with regard to the “enemy of an enemy is a friend” category, Iran established relations with the Taliban to secure its interests and supported them in this way.
Iran lobbied for the Taliban group and dragged Russia’s foot into the issue in order to be able to ground the US in Afghanistan. The government of Iran, with the support of the Taliban, was hindering the progress in dam construction and containment of Afghanistan’s waters.
After the Taliban came to power
With the withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan in 2014, Iran has openly supported the Taliban. With the signing of the Doha agreement between the Taliban and the United States, Iran increased its support to the Taliban against the forces of the previous Afghan government. But the question that arises is what did Iran want from the Taliban and what does it still want?
Although the main reasons why Iran supported the Taliban have not been made public, it is most likely that Iran supports the Taliban for several reasons and wants to be closer to them;
Lack of water: Iran is currently facing a shortage of water resources. If the dam construction project expands on the waters that flow to Iran, the problem of water shortage in the neighboring provinces of Afghanistan will double, which is a big challenge for the government of that country. Although the Taliban have stated from time to time that they control the waters of Afghanistan, in practice they have left a lot of water for Iran.
Expansion of ISIS activities: Iran is worried about the expansion of Islamic State (IS) militants in Iran due to its common land border with Afghanistan. The IS group, whose scope of activities has expanded from Iraq and the Middle East to some parts of Afghanistan, has deep opposition to the Shiites Muslims and Iran government is mostly controlled by the Shittes. Therefore, the only suitable option to prevent IS from entering Iran is the Taliban.
Drug trafficking: Afghanistan has played a major role in the production of drugs in the world and in the region. With the return to power of the Taliban regime, the production and smuggling of drugs to neighboring countries has increased. Iran is worried about drug production and smuggling to that country. Proximity to the Taliban is a mechanism used by Iran to smuggle drugs.
Durability of the Taliban government: Currently, the strengthening and stability of the Taliban government is in the interest of Iran. Because the level of dissatisfaction with Iran’s government has increased within that country, and any development along with human freedoms in Afghanistan will increase the concerns of Iran’s government. On the other hand, Iran and the Taliban, two ideological systems, Sunni and Shia, seek their survival in close relations.
Finally, Iran wants the Taliban to support its interests in Afghanistan as a proxy group. The Iranian government knows very well that it has no way out without having relations with the Taliban group.
In order to have support at the regional level and not be marginalized, the Taliban prefer to maintain relations with Iran. In order to expand its relations with the Taliban, and especially with Donald Trump’s inauguration as United States president, Iran sent its foreign minister to the Taliban so that the Taliban would stand by Iran in future events that will take place between the United States and Iran. Even though the Taliban do not have such ability, for Iran, even the weakest friend is better than none at the moment.
