According to the Washington post on Bing, Iranian citizens are celebrating in the streets that the US is pulling out of their nieghbor in Afghanistan.
But their rulers are not so ecstatic.
They love no longer being sandwiched between two US occupied countries ( Iraq, and Afghanistan). But the regime never had much love for the Taliban. In fact- I remember back in 02 reading that Iran reached out to George W. Bush to help Bush in Afganistan to fight back 9-11. W. politely refused because "legally we cant ally with a country thats officially listed as a sponsor of terrorism" which is what Iran was then, and probably still is.
Iran's mullahs are Sunnis, and the Taliban are radical Shiites. So they are actually rivals and enemies. But they maybe forced to make nice.
Anyway- the US retreat will have interesting, and complex, repercussions, for our friends and adversaries alike in Western Asia.
The Taliban reportadly alread seized a border crossing between Iran and Afghanistan.
10 Jul 2021, 8:25 am
