Does Iran Have Proxies in Interim Taliban Government?

A senior analyst on the Middle East and South Asian affairs, Kamran Bokhari, claims that Iran has got its proxies into the interim Taliban government in Afghanistan.

Dr Kamran Bokhari is Director of Analytical Development at the Newlines Institute and has also served as former vice president for the Middle East and South Asian Affairs at Stratfor.

According to him, Iran has been able to admit allies of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who are part of the Taliban and not.

He said that most of them are although at the deputy minister level.

So, it looks like Iran was able to get its proxies – both Talib and non-Talib – into the Taliban interim gov.

But mostly at the dep min level.

Happened a few days after Pakistan PM held talks on “inclusive gov” on the sidelines of SCO meeting in Tajikistan capital. https://t.co/XQBhRcxiRK

— Kamran Bokhari (@KamranBokhari) September 21, 2021

Read Also

Trudeau ‘Win’ in Election Brings Glad Tidings For Muslims

The analyst took to his Twitter account to share the names of the office-holders in the Taliban interim government which he claims as the proxies of Iran.

“Most significant is that the IRGC’s allies have a serious ‘piece of the action’ in the two main security portfolios of the Taliban provisional gov. Mullah Abdul Qayyum Zakir is dep defense minister & Sadr Ibrahim got the dep interior ministership”, he wrote in his tweet.

Stratfor’s ex-member went on to name the people and communities they belong to build up his case.

And then we have a Shia Hazara representation in the form of the new dep health minister.

Essentially, all three major minority groups have token representation in the Taliban interim setup.

Taliban reciprocating the help they got to take the strategic northern provinces.

— Kamran Bokhari (@KamranBokhari) September 21, 2021