Bedfellows

We wrote here about the capture, in Afghanistan, of a convoy of weapons apparently of Iranian origin, on their way to the Taliban. Today, ABC reported further on the story: Document: Iran Caught Red-Handed Shipping Arms to Taliban:

The coalition analysis says munitions recovered in two Iranian convoys, on April 11 and May 3, had “clear indications that they originated in Iran. Some were identical to Iranian supplied goods previously discovered in Iraq.”
Also among the munitions are components for the lethal EFPs, or explosive formed projectiles, the roadside bombs that U.S. officials say Iran has provided to Iraqi insurgents with deadly results.

The weapons captured in Afghanistan had the same fake U.S. markings that caused some liberals to question whether weapons found in Iraq were really of Iranian manufacture. What I mostly want to focus on, however, is the surprise expressed by some “experts” at the fact that Iran’s Shia government would help the Taliban, a radical Sunni group which was, of course, one of the prime sponsors of al Qaeda:

Iran and the Taliban had been fierce enemies when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan, and their apparent collaboration came as a surprise to some in the intelligence community.
“I think their goal is to make it very clear that Iran has the capability to make life worse for the United States on a variety of fronts,” said Seth Jones of the Rand Institute, “even if they have to do some business with a group that has historically been their enemy.”

This is the same surprise that has been expressed when Sunni and Shia extremists collaborate in Iraq; when Shia Iranians harbor al Qaeda Sunnis; and when the “secular” regime of Saddam Hussein financed and harbored Sunni terrorists. The lesson, I think, is that there are “enemies,” and then there are enemies. We are the enemy of all of these groups, and the time is long since past when “experts” in the West should be surprised that they will happily coordinate their efforts to kill us.
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