Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban has announced their intention to deploy thousands of troops and join forces against Israel with Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon.
The Taliban have access to the millions of dollars’ worth of weapons left by US forces when they withdrew from the country in August 2021. It is likely the Taliban fighters would bring at least some of the military vehicles and ordnance with them to Lebanon if they join the war against Israel.
According to the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), the Taliban and Iran cooperated in the operation to oust US forces from Afghanistan and overthrow the Afghan government.
Taliban leaders have promised Iranian officials to send fighters to Lebanon in support of Hezbollah against Israel, according to a June 13 report by Hassan Ala’a Hassan, a senior reporter with the Hezbollah-run Al Akhbar newspaper.
According to the report, the Taliban regime notified Iranian authorities that if needed, it will send thousands of fighters to fight against Israel and to support Tehran’s proxy groups in the Middle East, including the Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist organizations.
Hassan also told an interviewer (35:12) on the Mubasher platform that the Taliban offered to send fighters to help Hezbollah in its fight against Israel during the 2006 Second Lebanon War as well.
Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah said last week in televised remarks that Iranian proxy leaders and military forces from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Yemen and ‘other countries’ have previously offered to send tens of thousands of fighters to support the terrorist group in its war against Israel.
However, Nasrallah added, Hezbollah already has more than 100,000 fighters. “We told them, thank you, but we are overwhelmed by the numbers we have,” Nasrallah said.
Earlier this month, Iranian Interim Foreign Minister Ali Bagheri Kani and Taliban Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi discussed taking “joint action” against Israel in support of Hamas.
Iran has long sought to facilitate a relationship between the Taliban and the Iranian regime’s proxies, including Hezbollah.
