The self-styled Islamic State terrorist group is not expected to return to its past formidable strength on Afghan soil as its neighbors will block any movement by the group’s militants, the defense minister says.
In an interview with RT, General Amir Hatami said Iran does not share the concerns of some countries like Russia that the group may find a new base for operations in war-ravaged Afghanistan, even though they do pose a security threat there.
“There is little doubt that IS fighters went to Afghanistan, but there is disagreement of how many of them did. Some say as many as 10,000 may be there. The Afghan government says the figure is smaller. But they do operate there without doubt,” added the minister, who recently attended an international security conference in Moscow.
Some governments facilitate the withdrawal of the terrorists out of Syria and Iraq and make efforts to preserve the leaders of the terrorists, he said. “Our intelligence says those leaders may be smuggled into Afghanistan.”
Different Nature
The general, however, concurred that Afghanistan is quite different from Iraq and Syria, where IS territorial rule came to an end late last year. “IS will not be able to rise in Afghanistan the way it did in Iraq and Syria unless their sponsors put a lot of resources into it. Unlike the neighbors of Iraq and Syria, Afghanistan’s neighbors would be blocking the movements of IS fighters across the borders and cut their supply lines. And also the Afghan people will not accept that ideology because their culture is different.”
Nevertheless, major players should stay vigilant and not allow IS to rise in some other place, Hatami told the Russian news outlet.
True Face of Imperialism
During the interview Hatami censured John Bolton—an infamous critic of Iran who was recently selected by President Donald Trump as his national security adviser—and called Trump the embodiment of American imperialism.
“Mr. Bolton may have not made any strong-worded statements against Iran after his nomination, but his imperialist mindset is a matter of record. All the freedom-loving peoples of the world are well aware of it,” he said. Bolton, a known neocon in the campaign to sell the 2003 invasion of Iraq to the public, has for years called for launching a similar attack on Iran.
“This mindset was no different in previous American administrations, only their methods differed. Trump simply represents the true face of American imperialism for everyone to see clearly,” the minister said, describing the US president as an obvious threat to peace and security of everyone, not just Iran.
Illusion of Power
Hatami singled out the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for his persistent anti-Iran comments, saying that the 32-year-old de facto ruler of the oil kingdom has fallen into the trap of the “illusion of power”, just like many rulers before him who banked on military might to achieve their goals but lost. The prince recently claimed that Tehran wants to spread its “extremist ideology” throughout the world and accused it of interfering in his country’s internal affairs. Iran denies the charges. The Saudi official has also warned of potential war with Iran within the next 10 to 15 years.
“Those words have been said by a man who has little experience in state affairs,” the defense minister noted. “Once he claimed he could resolve the situation in Yemen in just one week…The war in Yemen is now in its fourth year, and it has become a quagmire for Saudi Arabia.”
