IRGC castle in Afghanistan
15 August 2021 marks the historic day when the Afghan Taliban drove into Kabul after Afghan President Ghani flee the country despite the agreement between the two parties. This put an end to 20 years long war that resulted in the deaths of thousands of Afghans. This came weeks after ANA’s surrender across Afghanistan followed by a total collapse in Kabul even before the US withdrawal.
The day was historic because this was one of the few occasions where the world witnessed a whole country collapsing within just weeks, with insurgents driving into the capitals as new heads of the town. This end game didn’t end up well for many as no one was expecting the Taliban’s complete takeover of the country. One of those countries was Iran, which initially welcomed the move by resuming the trade with Afghanistan via Herat port but this changed after the Panjshir offense.
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The division within the Tehran power corridors on Afghan policy especially regarding the deployment of the Fatimeyoun brigade was quite visible in different Iranian media and political segments. Fatimeyoun brigade comprising of Afghan Hazara is an Iranian-backed paramilitary force that served as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) extension in Iraq and Syria. During the US invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran covertly facilitated US forces which helped Iran in expanding influence in both countries.
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Over the years Iran successfully used these paramilitary forces to maximize the political and military influence in the region. After ISIS’s defeat, many of these Fatimeyoun fighters came back to Afghanistan. In recent years Iran tried to replicate the Syrian and Iraqi model in Afghanistan for which on many occasions Iranian Foreign Minister Jawad Zarif pitched a proposal to the Afghan government for using this brigade as a support arm of Afghan National Defense Forces (ANDF) in a fight against Taliban and Islamic State Khorasan Province.
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During the Raisina conference held in Delhi, India, Zarif said “Islamic emirate in Afghanistan is an existential threat to Pakistan and a national security threat to Iran and India,”. This application of the Iranian Middle-Eastern model would have helped Tehran in translating the military influence via proxy into political influence, particularly in the overall governing setup. But due to different dynamics and the rapid collapse of the Afghan state structure, it didn’t work out. In June Fatemiyoun brigade released a detailed 9 Page statement denying involvement in Afghanistan after reports of its fighters’ participation in operation against the Taliban surfaced. But after the Taliban takeover of Kabul, Panjshir was the last hope for many in Tehran who advocated for this time.
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Iranian media raised its rhetoric against Pakistan, with Iranian state media quoting CENTCOM report about the alleged involvement of Pakistan in Panjshir while Iranian FM stating that Tehran is investigating the foreign involvement in Panjsir and Afghanistan. On 7, September 2021, in a briefing to Parliamentary National Security Committee in close door session on Afghanistan Quds Force chief Esmail Ghaani said that “US wants to start a civil war in Afghanistan on sectarian grounds” He said even though Fatemiyoun Brigade is an integral part of the Axis of resistance but Afghan needs to solve the issue politically.
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During the meeting, many MPs criticized Pakistan while some criticized Masoud for asking the US and France for help. Former Iranian President Ahmadinejad also rode the bandwagon criticizing Pakistan for allegedly supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan without providing any evidence about the alleged involvement. But why the outrage reached the top level was because of multiple factors.
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Many from the far-right in Iranian power corridors for years viewed US withdrawal as a good opportunity for IRGC to covertly conquer another country and expanding the so-called “Axis of Resistance”. But this is now no longer possible, another aspect is the formation of Sunni theocracy in the backyard of Iran which would serve as a major obstacle in Iranian plans to reach out in the different regions by exploiting the sectarian fault lines.
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Moreover, Esmail Ghaani current head of IRGC, under late IRGC head Solemani, served as deputy commander and also served in the intelligence and Joint operations. Ghanni was managing operations including recruitment and training of fighters from Afghanistan and Pakistan under the umbrella of Fatemiyoun and Zainabiyoun brigade. This means the biggest concern for Iran would be the future of IRGC operations as the Taliban takeover undermined Iranian influence not only in Afghanistan but also in the region. After Azerbaijan’s victory in the Nagano Karabakh, Tehran was already feeling sidelined but the collapse in Afghanistan has further rolled backed Iranian ambitions in the region.
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The aggressive Anti-Pakistan rhetoric is just the manifestation of that tension in Tehran, as Tehran believes that Islamabad will fill the vacuum after the US withdrawal. In these changing dynamics, Iran would be pushed either to go for a policy shift or opt for the role of spoiler in the region. But only time would define, the future of Iran’s Afghan policy and role in the region.
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This Opinion has been submitted by Talha Ahmad. He is a Freelance Journalist, independent Geo-Political
Analyst, commentator, and keen observer of International relations. He can be reached at @talhaahmad967 on Twitter.
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