The world has forgotten the Taliban Emirate, winner of a twenty-year war against the United States and the West. Since then, the terrorist group is once again the master of Afghanistan. The war was lost and the world turned the page. However, the billions in weapons, armored vehicles, helicopters and military equipment that Washington left behind are still a threat whose effects are unquantifiable. They are still there, ready for war, and the Taliban have offered them to Hezbollah to unite their fighters in a global jihad against Israel.
The offer came in connection with the meeting held at the end of June between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the ruling leadership of the Emirate, with the aim of discussing the possibility of undertaking “joint actions” to support Hezbollah and Hamas. Collaboration between the Shiite Iranian government and the Sunni Taliban is not something new. During the two decades of war against the United States and the legitimate Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, Afghan jihadists had the collaboration of the Ayatollah regime to use their country as a training and hiding place, as well as from where to launch their offensives in the west. of the country, especially in the provinces of Herat, Farah and Nimroz.
After the June meeting, the Iranian representative, Ali Bagheri Kani, and his Taliban counterpart, Amir Khan Muttaqi, asked “the member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to put pressure on Israel,” according to Mehr News, an affiliated media. to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran. Since then, the Emirate has informed Tehran, on more than one occasion, that they have the capacity to deploy thousands of troops and fight against Israel, as reported in mid-June by “Al Akhbar Daily”, a media outlet owned by Hezbollah. . Iran no longer hides its relationship with the Taliban, and that includes its proxy in Lebanon, which is on the verge of a full-scale conflict with Israel.
Meanwhile, Hamas, which is more aligned with the Taliban since both are Sunnis, has also met with representatives from Kabul. Hafiz Zia Ahmad, one of the spokespersons for the Foreign Ministry of the Afghan Emirate, was the one who reported that in May the first meetings took place between the political leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyah, and the Taliban deputy prime minister, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
However, this cooperation could have started much earlier through arms sales. The same ones that the United States left in Afghanistan “have been used in attacks by terrorist groups in Kashmir and the Gaza Strip,” Foreign Policy magazine reported last year. Since the flight of Western troops and the disbandment of the Afghan National Army, the Taliban have become a replenishment point for the arms black market that feeds many jihadist groups in the Middle East and Central Asia.
Previously, the Taliban had already offered to fight and die in Gaza. In February 2024, the Iranian representative for Afghanistan Affairs, Hassan Kazemi Qomi, stated that “if necessary, an Afghan martyr division is prepared to fight in Gaza. As we see it, it is also part of the Resistance Axis.” In this way, the suicide bombers of the Afghan Emirate would also be willing to die for Hezbollah and its fight against Israel, which the Taliban Foreign Minister, Abdul Qahar Balkhi, describes as “a criminal Zionist regime”, as he published on his social networks.
Shortly before he died, former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech that “militant leaders in other countries have previously offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to help Hezbollah. “We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have.” It is estimated that the group has about 100,000 troops, something that would not be enough in the event of a major escalation against Israel. For this reason, the late leader himself previously pointed out that if a total conflict occurs “the combatants of Iran, Iraq, Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan will be partners in such a war.”
For its part, Tel Aviv is well aware of the danger. Eran Etzion, former head of policy planning at the Israeli Foreign Ministry, explained last week during a roundtable in Washington DC that “there could be an intervention by the Houthis and Iraqi militias, as well as a massive flow of jihadists from Afghanistan.” and Pakistan towards Lebanon and the Syrian areas bordering Israel.” In that case, the influx could not be possible without the collaboration of Iran, through which the Afghan and Pakistani fighters would transit. That is to say, Tehran would intervene in a way that, by domino effect, would cause the United States to join the conflict with a strong presence alongside Israel.
On Monday the Pentagon confirmed that it is sending “a few thousand more troops to the Middle East”without specifying the exact number, including “the deployment of several squadrons of F-15, F-16 and F-22 fighter jets, as well as A-10 warplanes.” The reinforcements sent by Washington will join the 40,000 US soldiers operating in several countries in the area such as Syria, Iraq and the Persian Gulf. “The USS Abraham Lincoln, in the Gulf of Oman, is on an extended deployment to the region, and a second aircraft carrier, the USS Harry S. Truman, departed Norfolk, Virginia, a week ago for the Mediterranean as part of a regularly scheduled deployment,” according to the “New York Times.”