US intelligence indicates Iran paid bounties to Taliban for targeting American troops in Afghanistan

According to CNN, bounties were indeed paid to the Taliban for an attack against US forces in Afghanistan. Not by Russia though.

https://edition.cnn.com/2020/08/17/politics/iran-taliban-bounties-us-intelligence/index.html

The attack that killed Soleimani, the influential head of the Iranian Revolutionay Guard, was probably a consequence of the Bagram Air Base terror attack.

Seems to me that Iran tried to sabotage the peace talks with the Taliban. The Iranian leaders obviously want the US and coalition troops out of Afghanistan, but on their own terms, not as a result of peace talks, but beaten and morally broken.

What say you? Does the "Iranians did it" version of the bounties narrative make more sense than the "Russians did it" version"? I think it does.

Why did the New York Times name Russia as the foreign government behind the Bagram attack?

 

Now that the true story of the events is hidden behind confusion we will never know the facts..

 

The CNN version of events seems accurate, given that Iran had done such deeds before. Al Qaeda in Iraq, for instance, was supported by Iran, so are the Shia militias that attack US troops in Iraq today.

Haqqani, the founder and former leader of the organization responsible for the Bagram attack, was a friend of Bin Laden. He gave Bin Laden land in Afghanistan for al Qaeda's training camp. The Iranians probably had informations about the Haqqani network from Bin Laden's son, who lived in Iran for some time, even got married there. The pieces of the puzzle fit one another perfectly.

The only question still bothering me is why did the NYT name Russia as the government responsible for the attack. Did someone - in the intelligence community, or an employee of the newspaper - hope that such news will damage Trump's chances of being reelected? I can think of no other reason.

 

Why? The Deep State have for years leaked false information and now "dossiers" pinning Russia. This goes all the way back to when they funded the Chechen separatist war along with Soros (the separatists by the way turned into ISIS), to the Ukraine & Crimea saga, .......(insert more bullshit reports here) ...to the fake Steele Dossier.

The Deep State's biggest enemies were;

1. Russia
2. Trump

now it's

1. Trump
2. Russia

You simply have to sit back and watch who they smear the most then start numbering accordingly. The Boers are also on their list... (also Netanyahu btw, see the protests... how dare he go and make peace)

 

Well you guys proclaim CNN is part of that deep state yet here they are reporting something completely different. You guys and false stories that get spread by your orange master....

 

Because the NY Slimes are bought and paid for by the Iranians...

 

Shia Iran and Sunni al Qeada are enemies. The US and Iran fought ISIS in Iraq. Iran helped defeat the Salafists in Syria. Iran would ally with Israel before Saudi Arabia. Not all muslims are the same.

Lies About Iran Killing US Troops in Iraq Are a Ploy to Justify War - Truthout

 

I don't believe in the Deep State. I believe, however, that the mainstream media is biased, one way or another. Not as biased as the so-called alternative news sources, but still...journalistic ethics come second after financial gain.

 

I doubt that very much. Any proof?

 

The relationships between various governments and organizations in the Middle East, and the Muslim world at large, are far more complex than simple dichotomy along sectarian lines.

Iranian support for al Qaeda in Iraq was very well known at the time. Documents found in Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan substantiate the allegations.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/11/al-qaeda-iran-cia/545576/

 

Well ...
Some time ago Russia was accused of doing this, now Iran is being accused and I think China will next be accused of doing this ... if it hasn't already happened.

Not only the US likes to act according to the old principle "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" ... others can do it just as well ... if this accusation against Russia and Iran is actually true.

But ... those who get upset about it in the USA and spit "fire and bile" should calm down quickly before they behave in a ridiculously hypocritical manner.

First of all, the US, or more precisely the CIA, did the same thing against dead Red Army soldiers in the 1980s. The excuse often to be read because there was "cold war" is ridiculous! On the one hand it is generally ridiculous from a moral point of view and on the other hand it is ridiculous because the USA has been in the "cold war" with Iran since 1979 and a new "cold war" has started with Russia ... it started with the unfounded one and provocative deployment of an anti-missile defense shield in Eastern Europe and everything that came after that was a matter of action and reaction!

Then the USA started to negotiate with the Taliban because after 19 years the USA understood that they could never win the war in Afghanistan ... a realization that others were allowed to make themselves long before and had themselves, but with in the USA it takes longer and longer to get it. And that's why you negotiate very belatedly with people who are called terrorists and where you actually never want to negotiate according to official US policy! Strange ... but OK!
At the beginning of 2002 the USA had the golden chance to get out of Afghanistan directly, because the Taliban (note: the Taliban, not Al Qaeda!) Offered their honorable surrender ... but the USA were totally arrogant, refused this, because they are the USA and these Taliban jerks are just a few uneducated, extremist tribes etc. Reality bites sometimes someone in the butt, isn't it?

Anyway ... no matter if this report about bountis is true:

Iran has a well-founded interest in Afghanistan because it shares a long common border with the country. Since everyone in the world knows that with the withdrawal of the USA and the other NATO members sometime in the future, the days of the current government in Afghanistan are counted ... like those once of the South Vietnamese government after the US withdrawal from Vietnam ... the Taliban are the more sensible interlocutor for Iran, isn't it?
In addition, there is another fact that is largely unknown in the USA because it is hardly reported in left or right-wing media:
IS is very active in Afghanistan and IS = Sunni Islam is the deadly enemy of Iran = Shia Islam ... and IS has declared war not only to Iran, but on the Taliban too! So here too, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" is given ... even if Iran didn't really like the Taliban itself before, but circumstances and situations change sometimes!

 

I'm not interested in the morality of Iranian, or American, actions. Politics and morality don't usually mix well.

From a western, secular point of view, any gain of the Iranian regime is a loss for civilization (including the Iranian civilization). When judging actions on the international scene, the main concern should be "is this good for the future of mankind, or is this bad?". On the short term, as I said, gains by repressive, power-hungry regimes, are our loss. On the long term, there's no way to know for sure, but I worry about now and tomorrow, not five centuries forward.

Not only Iran supports the Taliban. So does Pakistan. I wonder if they're not involved too, one way or another.

 

I am a staunch atheist and first of all I respect every religion, regardless of whether it is Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindu, Buddhists or whether someone worships the next tree as their god.
Only when the extremists of a religion start to sell themselves as the better religion, fight and see the others including atheists like me as opponents and do evil in the name of their religion, then my understanding stops immediately and I can also get very angry and react!

Only ... what you are talking about here is unfortunately a little one-sided and hypocritical. If you call Iran that all as evil ... certainly rightly ... then you have to do the same at least with Saudi Arabia!
Iran is neither worse nor better than Saudi Arabia in any way, in what we are talking about here. And even Israel has no white vest of innocence!

And yes ... I am also concerned about the current development ... that is, to use a religious term, a fight between Satan and the Devil who is starting to get warmer and warmer!

 

I've no love lost for the Saudi regime. The only difference between the Saudis and the Iranian regime is the direction they chose - the Saudis are trying to push the kingdom forward, slowly and painfully, granted, but still some progress is being made, while the Iranian regime is destroying a great civilization, taking Iran back to the stone age (ideologically speaking).

And yes, this is indeed a fight between Satan and the Devil. Israel has no choice but ally itself with the side that doesn't yell "death to Israel", though I'm quite sure that at least some of them are whispering it to themselves.

 

Regime change propaganda.

US-Iran crisis: ISIS is the winner in death of Qasem Soleimani - CNBC

https://thegrayzone.com/2020/05/19/...based-on-questionably-sourced-book-the-exile/

 

No. Documents found in Bin Laden's compound in Pakistan confirm that Iran supported al Qaeda in Iraq.

 

That's what the article is referring to.

 

"The most trusted name in news."





^^
Blue arm bands.

 

ROFL == where did cookie doe CNN hear this revelation -- our "Intelligence Agencies" perhaps ?

What a joke - on many levels... Who was it that we were paying to kill Iranians not to long ago ? - hmmmm get back to me on that one when you have figured it out... think the real bad terrorists types

 

I don't know if it's true or not, but it makes sense. It's the only version of the bounties narrative that makes sense. I never believed the NYT "Russians are coming" story.

As for the moral aspect, I already told you that politics is not about morality. Let me quote one of my other favorite classics, to spare you the effort to read the whole one-page thread:

http://www.politicalforum.com/index...troops-in-afghanistan.577135/#post-1071974611

 

It makes no sense other than state sponsored propaganda .. but either way - its an abject nonsense "Do as we say not as we do" accusation.

So once again.

Who was it that we were paying to kill Iranians not too long ago ?

 

In your personal life just how many times does someone have to look you in the eyes and flat out lie before you no longer believe a word that leaves their mouths? So why would you treat the "media" and their BS any differently, since their whole stock in trade is lies, half lies, and especially lies by omission?

 

I call BS - but even if True - Iran's support for Al Qaeda compared to the US would be like comparing a Rain Drop to a Hurricane.

If we look at the number of Al Qaeda/ISIS killed by US vs Iraq ... again raindrop to hurricane.

Actions speak louder than words and false accusations don't you think ?

 

Sorry, you lost me at According to CNN.

First the left wants us to coddle Iran and says killing their largest terrorist leader was murder, but now they want the US to go after them?

The hypocrisy is just overwhelming.