# Hamid Karzai: Iran has been a "helper" in fight against terrorism **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [August 8, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825 "2007-08-08T03:19:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/1 "2007-08-08T03:19:58Z")
[So the Afghan president said just before his recent visit to Camp David:](http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15&pid=220487) > [@](#): > > On the eve of the summit, Karzai told CNN that: > > 1. “The security situation in Afghanistan over the past two years has definitely deteriorated. The Afghan people have suffered. Terrorists have killed our schoolchildren. They have burned our schools. They have killed international helpers.” > > 2. “We are not closer (to catching bin Laden), we are not further away from it. We are where we were a few years ago.” > > 3. “So far, Iran has been a helper (in the fight against terrorism).” > > All of those statements, made by Karzai in an interview with Wolf Blitzer on the eve of his trip to Camp David, were corrected by Bush upon the Afghan president’s arrival. > > On the security situation, Bush told Karzai not to believe what he was seeing on the ground in Afghanistan. “There is still work to be done, don’t get me wrong,” Bush said. “But progress is being made.” > > On the bin Laden search, Bush spoke of how the hunt is progressing and declared that, “With real actionable intelligence, we will get the job done.” > > On Iran’s positive role in the region, Bush again told Karzai not to believe his own experience but instead to accept the neoconservative version of events. “I would be very cautious about whether or not the Iranian influence there in Afghanistan is a positive force,” the American president pointedly told the Afghan president. So, who’s right? Put another way, what is Karzai talking about? He ought to know, it’s his country – but what exactly has Iran done to stop terrorism there? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/2 "2007-08-08T03:36:15Z")
Iran hates the Taliban, and the sentiment is entirely returned. The Taliban are inspired by the Wahhabist sect, a sub-set of Sunni Islam that loathes Shia Islam violently. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/3 "2007-08-08T05:15:23Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Iran hates the Taliban, and the sentiment is entirely returned. The Taliban are inspired by the Wahhabist sect, a sub-set of Sunni Islam that loathes Shia Islam violently. [/QUOTE] But what has Iran actually **done** about any of that? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2007, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/4 "2007-08-08T08:07:43Z")
In the past, Iran has moved troops onto their border with Afghanistan to contain the Taliban during operations. [http://www.farsinet.com/news/sept98wk1.html](http://www.farsinet.com/news/sept98wk1.html) From the article: > [@](#): > > WASHINGTON(UPI) \_ U.S. intelligence officials are warning the Pentagon and the White House that Iran is poised to send thousands of troops and dozens of aircraft into Afghanistan and that an attack was imminent. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/5 "2007-08-09T03:46:28Z")
[QUOTE=madmonk28] In the past, Iran has moved troops onto their border with Afghanistan to contain the Taliban during operations. [http://www.farsinet.com/news/sept98wk1.html](http://www.farsinet.com/news/sept98wk1.html) From the article: [/QUOTE] Yet, the Admin [accuses Iran of funnelling weapons into Afghanistan.](http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/afghan.php) And, **if that is true** (the linked story does not mention the evidence), for whom but the Taliban could they be intended? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/6 "2007-08-09T03:57:45Z")
> [@](#): > > But what has Iran actually done about any of that? Iran provided intelligence to the CIA about al Qaeda after 9/11. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/7 "2007-08-09T04:03:34Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Yet, the Admin [accuses Iran of funnelling weapons into Afghanistan.](http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/afghan.php) And, **if that is true** (the linked story does not mention the evidence), for whom but the Taliban could they be intended? [/QUOTE] Are there no Shia Muslims in Afghanistan resistant to the Taliban? ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/8 "2007-08-09T04:09:44Z")
[QUOTE=BrainGlutton] Yet, the Admin [accuses Iran of funnelling weapons into Afghanistan.](http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/08/07/news/afghan.php) And, **if that is true** (the linked story does not mention the evidence), for whom but the Taliban could they be intended? [/QUOTE] They are in fact, many Shia in Afghanistan and that is who Iran is accused of arming to fight the Taliban. Of course, the US armed the northern alliance and the proto-groups that became the Taliban. Other players in Afghanistan include India, which is apparently trying to destabilize Pakistan’s northern border to keep them occupied there and the Russians who have had an interest in the region since the beginning of the great game. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@bob\_co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_co)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/9 "2007-08-09T08:46:56Z")
The arabs and the persians have been at war since the beginning of time. These borders are moving daily. Large portions of these border regions are in an ideological constant change and it would be rediculous to blame that on one of these central governments. They have no control whatsoever. They are going to run out of people killing each other at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/10 "2007-08-09T09:51:46Z")
Bush told Karzai that Karzai shouldn’t _believe_ what he was _seeing_ on the ground in Afganistan??? As if Bush were in a better position to know what’s happening there than Karzai? Was he then drowned out by raucous laughter? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2007, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/11 "2007-08-09T15:04:12Z")
[QUOTE=bob\_co] The arabs and the persians have been at war since the beginning of time. [/QUOTE] There are no Arabs (except for foreign volunteer fighters) in Afghanistan. Shift your focus eastward. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_co](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b3f665/32.png) [@bob\_co](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_co)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2007, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hamid-karzai-iran-has-been-a-helper-in-fight-against-terrorism/414825/12 "2007-08-11T05:49:11Z")
I believe that what the US, Iran, and Karzai would like is the removal of the Arab influence from their regions. The volunteer fighters are what I refrerring to. On the other hand, most of the Arab nations do not want them either.