Anti-Taliban forces in Iran claimed 4000 Taliban fighters ..

Post #13,260 by brettj 10/14/01 11:37:22 PM Reply	Anti-Taliban forces in Iran claimed 4000 Taliban fighters .. ... have joined the opposition Northern Alliance and reported heavy fighting in central Afghanistan on Sunday. <<<<< Iran seems to keep getting press in this war against terrorists (both from humanitarian aid allowances to the Afghans, and from the fact that the Sunni sect is against them). I get the feeling that the Iranian people side with the UN but the Iranian government sides with the Taliban and bin Laden. It is Iraq that I wonder about. How do they fit into the puzzle? What motives might they have in a Holy War against non-Sunni Muslems and other perceived infidels? [link\|http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/asiapcf/central/10/14/ret.afghan.alliance/index.html\| Alliance faction claims fighting around Bamian] October 14, 2001 Posted: 3:29 PM EDT (1929 GMT) TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- Anti-Taliban forces based in Iran claimed 4,000 Taliban fighters have joined the opposition Northern Alliance and reported heavy fighting in central Afghanistan on Sunday. Yunus Vaezi, a leader of Iran-based Hizb-e-Vahdat, or Unity Party, told CNN a radio contact reports that more than 4,000 fighters -- mainly ethnic Uzbeks -- have joined the Northern Alliance forces in the Jozejan province. Vaezi also said heavy fighting began a couple days ago between the opposition and the Taliban around the central Afghan town of Bamian, and that fighting was still continuing Sunday morning
Post #13,305 by JayMehaffey 10/15/01 9:58:35 AM Reply	Situation in Iran The basic situation in Iran is actually pretty simple. They are undergoing a cultural war between the older generation that was involved in the religious revolution that created the current government and the younger generation which has grown up disliking the religious rules. The older / religious types that control the clergy and upper levels of government sympathize with the Taliban to a certain extent but this is limited by the fact that the Taliban has connections to their hated foe Iraq. The younger / less religious people have more sympathy with the general population of Afghanistan that has suffered under Taliban rule. However, their ability to act on this is very limited because the older generation hold most of the real power. The current president of Iran falls into the younger group, striving to pull power away from the clergy and into the civilian government but so far he has had limited success. As for Iraq, the government is not religious. It is a tribal/military government of people that happen to be Muslim. They are siding with Bin Laden simply because Bin Laden is anti-US. This is one area where the idea of this being a political war wrapped in religious clothing is clearly correct. Jay
Post #13,315 by brettj 10/15/01 10:34:54 AM Reply	Sadam was born in the same town as Muhammad? Thanks for the detailed reply. My understanding of Iran's plight is similar to yours but I thought Hussein was a strong Sunni Islamic believer. He also hates the U.S., the UN's biological weapons inspectors, and about 1/3? of the people in his country (Kurds/Shiite). I apologize for my ignorance of the region but give me a few more days and I'll be up to speed on both topics of the history of the Middle East and the Islamic religion. (and maybe I'll brush up on my Calculus while I'm at it.) (:
Post #13,318 by Another Scott 10/15/01 10:41:46 AM Reply	Saladin, Saddam in Tikrit. Mohammad in Mecca.
Post #13,404 by JayMehaffey 10/15/01 3:17:31 PM Reply	Re: Sadam was born in the same town as Muhammad? I have never heard anything about Hussein being particularly religious or not. But he has never really tried to invoke religion as a cover for his actions, and his actions seem more aligned with tribal borders then religious ones. Nor do his actions seem to have a religious goal or motivation. His occasional public show of being Muslim don't look to be any deeper then American president's show of being devout Christians. Jay

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