Officials: Discovery of Weapons Cache Suggests Iranian Meddling in Afghan War

[JohnBrowdie]

Afghanistan is just an impossible situation.  a "surge" just doesn't seem like it's going to solve anything, since it presumes that success is achieved by occupying strategically important territory.  and that just doesn't exist in afghanistan;  one rock is as important as the next.  there are almost NO simularities to iraq;   there has never been a strong central government, there is no infrastructure, and the educational level of the population is low, to say the very least.

and now it turns out that karzai is probably a rat, and the iranian regime that the president tolerated when their fake election was exposed is working against him.

the prescription for the afghanistan problem is a swarm of predators constantly overhead.  if anything twitches, blow it to mars.

Officials: Discovery of Weapons Cache Suggests Iranian Meddling in Afghan War
The discovery of a weapons cache in western Afghanistan has raised concerns that Iran is interfering in the war-torn country, much like it did in Iraq, by supplying weapons used to attack and kill U.S. and coalition troops, U.S. officials tell FOX News.

Afghan and NATO forces uncovered the weapons cache on Aug. 29 in Herat. It included a small number of Iranian-made "explosively formed penetrators," hyper-powerful roadside bombs similar to the weapons used to kill U.S. forces in Iraq, a senior U.S. Defense Official told FOX News.

Also seized during the raid were 107 Iranian-made BM-1 rockets and dozens of blocks of Iranian C4 plastic explosives.

There are questions about when these weapons entered Afghanistan, but a top U.S. military official tells FOX News that an Iranian rocket was recently fired at a base in Herat. Additional intelligence suggests that Iranians have been providing support directly to the Taliban.

Other coalition countries allege the Iranian influence is even deeper and that Iranian intelligence is funneling money to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

"There have been a lot of reports of the Iranian government one way or another having an influence on Karzai, including a lot of reports that they have provided him with a lot of money," said Fred Kagan, a member of Gen. Stanley McChrystal's recent Afghan review and a scholar from the American Enterprise Institute.

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[JohnBrowdie]

well, of course violence has increased recently.  when you increase troop levels and go on the offensive, you want violence to increase.  that's the whole point.

general mccrystal's strategy to win the hearts and minds of the afghans is going to be a very, VERY tough nut to crack.

Taliban presence seen across almost all Afghanistan

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - The Taliban have a significant presence in almost every corner of Afghanistan, data from a policy think tank showed on Thursday, as the country lurches into political uncertainty after a disputed presidential election.

A political standoff has deepened since the August 20 poll, with President Hamid Karzai defending the ballot as honest but a U.N.-backed election watchdog invalidating some votes and ordering a partial recount amid widespread accusations of fraud.

The uncertainty coincides with the most violent period since the Taliban were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001, with record military and civilian deaths testing the resolve of U.S. and European leaders.

The election, initially hailed a success after the Taliban failed to disrupt it, has since become a major headache for Washington and a test of President Barack Obama's new regional strategy to defeat the militants and stabilize Afghanistan.

A security map by policy research group the International Council on Security and Development (ICOS) however showed a deepening security crisis with substantial Taliban activity in at least 97 percent of the country.

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