Officials say Iran is backing the Taliban with cash, weapons

Western and Afghan officials say Tehran is increasing the funding and supplies it has been giving to the Taliban and is recruiting and training foreign fighters inside Iran's own borders.

A Taliban commander named Abdullah told The Wall Street Journal that after he was detained for working illegally in Iran, an Iranian intelligence officer approached him and said he would double his salary if he would work for him in Afghanistan. Now, Abdullah receives a salary of $580 a month and "Iran supplies us with whatever we need," smuggling in items like machine guns, 82mm mortars, rocket-propelled grenades, and materials for bomb-making.

Officials say Iran, which historically has not had strong ties with the Taliban, is working with the group because it hopes to counter U.S. influence in the region and provide a counterweight to Islamic State as it moves into Afghanistan. "Iran is betting on the re-emergence of the Taliban," a Western diplomat told The Journal. "They are uncertain about where Afghanistan is heading right now, so they are hedging their bets." Officials in Iran did not respond to The Journal's requests for comment, but a former senior Afghan official said whenever they were asked if they provided assistance to the Taliban, the Iranians "would deny it."

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