Iran in the Afghan War Diary

A search on “Iran” in the Afghan War Diary gives about 150 hits – more, actually, but I cleared a bunch that were place names that have the string “iran” in them, like Faqiran, and any entries about how the US raids a weapons cache and uncovers Iranian-manufactured weapons (there are a lot of those cache raids in the record).


A search on “Iran” in the Afghan War Diary gives about 150 hits – more, actually, but I cleared a bunch that were place names that have the string “iran” in them, like Faqiran, and any entries about how the US raids a weapons cache and uncovers Iranian-manufactured weapons (there are a lot of those cache raids in the record).

I’ve only looked at a few dozen reports, but it’s obvious that Iran has a long and strong connection to Afghanistan, with lots of people going back and forth, Afghans who used to live in Iran and vice-versa. The suspicion of the US towards Iran is also evident in the record, as a lot of the records are references to suspicions about Iranian influence. I came across some stories that say something about the war, like this one dated February 17, 2009:

“FF [friendly forces] reported that while conducting operations, FF entered a main building on a compound. In this building, FF encountered a LN [local national, ie. Afghan] male. The LN male made a quick, aggressive movement towards the FF with something in his hand, which was perceived to be offensive in nature. The LN male was engaged and killed in self defense. Following the shooting, it was determined that the object in the LN’s hand was a flashlight. Later in the morning, the local villagers alleged that the deceased had just returned from visiting Iran, and that he was not involved in any INS [insurgent] acitvity.”

Author: Justin Podur

Author of Siegebreakers. Ecology. Environmental Science. Political Science. Anti-imperialism. Political fiction. Teach at York U's FES. Author. Writer at ZNet, TeleSUR, AlterNet, Ricochet, and the Independent Media Institute.