Gates says no evidence Iran moving weapons to Taliban

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

Gates says no evidence Iran moving weapons to Taliban

By Kristin Roberts Reuters - 27 minutes ago

KABUL (Reuters) - U.S. Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on
Monday the United States has no evidence Iran's government is
behind a flow of weapons from Iran to Taliban insurgents in
Afghanistan.

On his second visit to Afghanistan since taking over the Pentagon
in December, Gates met Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who also
said there was no evidence Iran was supplying the Taliban.

"There have been indications over the past few months (that)
weapons are coming in from Iran," Gates told a news conference
with Karzai at the national palace.

"We do not have any information about whether the government
of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it is smuggling,
or exactly what is behind it."

-snip-

Read more: http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070604/tpl-uk-usa-afghan-gates-81f3b62.html

[babylonsister]

1. Quick! Someone tell Dick! nt

[Demeter]

2. I Suspect that by this Press Release, Someone Just Did

Gotta wonder about the Bush Cabal, when they have to send each other coded messages by MSM.

[Supersedeas]

18. is it time to reveal another CIA source to get even?

[MrPrax]

3. What trade is going the other way?

"... The bulk of Southwest Asian heroin is moved overland to market destinations. Afghan heroin moves to markets in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East through Iran, Pakistan, and Central Asia. An estimated 40% of the heroin and morphine from Afghanistan moves through Iran. Iran reports significant seizures of opium and heroin from smuggler convoys which are increasingly well-armed and capable of traveling at night.

Two primary routes are used to smuggle heroin: the Balkan Route, which runs through southeastern Europe, and the Silk Route, which runs through Central Asia. The anchor point for the Balkan Route is Turkey, which remains a major staging area and transportation route for heroin destined for European markets. The Balkan Route is divided into three sub-routes: the southern route runs through Turkey, Greece, Albania and Italy; the central route runs through Turkey, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, and into either Italy or Austria; and the northern route runs from Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania to Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Poland or Germany. Large quantities of heroin are destined for either the Netherlands or the United Kingdom.

Although the Balkan Route is considered the primary supply line for Western Europe Afghan and Central Asian traffickers smuggle heroin along the Silk Route into Russia, the Baltic States, Poland, Ukraine, the Czech Republic and other parts of Europe. Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Turkmenistan are vital transit countries, with an estimated 24% of Afghan heroin smuggled along this route.

A trend that appears to be developing is the shipment of large quantities of heroin to European markets. Several multi-hundred kilo seizures have taken place in the last year, possibly as a result of a willingness to risk larger quantities knowing that a ready source of heroin remains available. Another possibility is the stockpiling of heroin for European markets.

Interpol

[ohio2007]

5. Well, maybe they grow opium and expect nothing in return?

that part of the trade story isn't the issue ;)

who really cares about that ?

[Oilwellian]

8. Well no wonder they're pissed at Iran

"Iran reports significant seizures of opium and heroin from smuggler convoys which are increasingly well-armed and capable of traveling at night."

Iran is putting a kink in the Bush crime family's drug running.

[MrPrax]

11. That's been Iran's beef for years...

Personally I never knew what to think.

On the one hand, the Iranians claim that they were relatively 'heroin' free and it was the Afghanistan warlords/Taliban continuing to ply their trade through Iran. The Taliban claimed they were completely committed to it's eradication and more 'spiritual'. I think a bit of propaganda on both sides. Most religious fanatics make claims they can't keep about their 'moral' standing.

But those two hated each other; my understanding is that Iran supports Karzai's government, as the lesser of two evils. They don't have much choice.

The Taliban are getting their 'stuff' from Pakistan...like they were doing back in the good old Soviet days.

[JTFrog]

4. If they didn't listen to him about

Iraq, why would they listen to him about Iran. In fact, I suspect he'll be outted as a covert CIA agent any day now. :shrug:

[Sanity Claws]

6. Trying to preempt Dick and the new war he wants

That's my guess.

[marmar]

7. Darth Cheney to Gates:

"I find your lack of faith disturbing."


(Apologies to non-Star Wars aficionados)

[endarkenment]

9. taliban: sunni fundamentalists. iran: shiite fundamentalists

Gates: clueless idiot.

[montanto]

10. the lack of evidence IS the evidence

of "flow of weapons," therefore go directly to war.

Or is Gates just off his chain? slippped his leash?

[paparush]

12. Doesn't this COMPLETELY CONTRADICT the bullshit that Cheney is spouting?

Cheney and his FEAR MACHINE!

[Up2Late]

16. No, but it does reveal that he has nothing to back-up the BS he's spouting...

...just like the last time with Iraq.:banghead: :mad:

Damn, 595 Days, 16 hours and 26 minutes to go, I hope the World survives.:hide: :yoiks:

[bamacrat]

13. He better watch what he says..

Wish Gates was the Sec. Def. all along maybe he would have said there werent any WMDs in Iraq.

[libodem]

14. Some one should ask Sybil Edmond

She knows more about the heroin trade out of Turkey than you could believe. Cheney is just foaming at the mouth to go to war with Iran. The last big Iran/Iraq war was a gold mine. We were selling arms to both sides. He stands to double his war profits. I thought there was a law?

[Up2Late]

15. And yet, another distorted Headline from the AP!!! "Gates: Taliban fighters use Iran weapons"

(So, is it a RW-Media conspiracy yet!?! This is why I hate the AP!):grr:

June 4, 2007, 4:48PM

Gates: Taliban fighters use Iran weapons

By ROBERT BURNS AP Military Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that Iranian weapons are falling into the hands of anti-government Taliban fighters but he stopped short of blaming Tehran. Afghan President Hamid Karzai seemed to dismiss the matter.

At a news conference at the presidential palace, Gates offered possible explanations for the flow of weapons from Iran to this war-scarred country, including smuggling. He mentioned no specific weapons, but NATO officials recently cited the discovery in Kabul of an armor-piercing roadside bomb, the same type U.S. officials have long complained are entering Iraq from Iran.

"There have been indications over the past few months of weapons coming in from Iran," Gates told reporters with Karzai at his side. "We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it's smuggling."

(more at link)

<http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4860814.html>

AND the NY Times too!

Gates Says Iranian Weapons Flowing Into Afghanistan

By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: June 4, 2007

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 4 — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today that Iranian weapons had begun flowing into Afghanistan in recent months. But he said that he and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan agreed that there was no direct evidence that the Iranian government was behind the arms shipments.

Echoing comments made in recent weeks by top American military commanders, Mr. Gates said that Iranian-made weapons were being smuggled into Afghanistan in support of Taliban fighters.

“There clearly is evidence that some weapons are coming into Afghanistan destined for the Taliban,” Mr. Gates said as he and President Karzai spoke to reporters after a meeting at the presidential palace here. he weapons shipments raise the possibility that the Tehran regime is trying to destabilize Afghanistan, even as it pledges its support for the Karzai government. But Mr. Gates said it was also possible that drug smugglers or other criminal networks, and not the Iranian government, were behind the weapons flows.

(more at link) <http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/04/world/asia/04cnd-gates.html>

And the Wall Street Journal a distorting the story even further:

Gates Says Taliban Weapons May Have Come From Iran

Associated Press

KABUL, Afghanistan -- Iranian weapons have begun flowing into Afghanistan, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday, but he and Afghan President Hamid Karzai agreed involvement by Tehran cannot yet be proved.

Mr. Gates told a news conference at the presidential palace that he and Mr. Karzai had discussed the Iranian weapons issue. "There have been indications over the past few months of weapons coming in from Iran," Mr. Gates said. "We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it's smuggling, or exactly what's behind it."

(more at link) <http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118096404928123715.html?mod=googlenews_wsj>

[maddezmom]

17. No evidence Iran supplying Taliban-NATO general

KABUL, June 5 (Reuters) - While Iranian mortars and other weapons have been found on Afghan battlefields there is no evidence that Tehran is supplying weapons to the Taliban, the U.S. general who leads the NATO war effort in the country said on Tuesday.

General Dan McNeill, who took command of NATO forces in Afghanistan in February, also said in an interview with Reuters that some lower-level Taliban militants could be incorporated into Afghan politics, but he saw no hope for a peace pact with the leadership of the Afghan rebel forces.

McNeill, commander of the NATO's 36,000-strong International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), said Iranian mortars were routinely found in Afghan weapons caches, but there was no evidence they had been transported as part of a Tehran-organised operation.

"There certainly are weapons or munitions of Iranian origin, but when you say weapons being provided by Iran that would suggest there is some more formal entity involved in getting those weapons here," he said at ISAF's heavily fortified main base in Kabul. "That's not my view at all."

more:http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KLR312458.htm

[DrDan]

19. he needs to listen to sean Insanity . . . I heard it there . . .