DTN News (Archive) - DEFENSE NEWS: Iranian Officer Captured In Afghanistan: NATO
**SPECIAL NOTE: This article was originally posted on December 24, 2010 and reposted today July 21, 2012
**'Iran arms smuggler' held by Nato BBC News
Source: DTN News - - This article compiled by Roger Smith from reliable sources By Katherine Haddon (AFP)
(NSI News Source Info) KABUL, Afghanistan - December 24, 2010: A member of the elite al-Quds force of Iran's Revolutionary Guard has been captured in southern Afghanistan accused of cross-border weapons smuggling, international forces said Friday.
The man, described as a "key Taliban weapons facilitator", was captured Saturday in Zhari district, Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, a volatile district targeted in recent coalition offensives.
He was targeted "for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province," a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.
It is thought he was connected to smuggling small arms between the countries.
"The now-detained man was considered a Kandahar-based weapons facilitator with direct ties to other Taliban leaders in the province," the ISAF spokesman added in a statement.
The news again spotlights the complex relationship between Afghanistan, Iran and the United States, whose troops make up roughly two-thirds of the coalition force.
Kabul has insisted that Iran, as a neighbouring country, has a legitimate concern in helping the reconstruction and development of Afghanistan.
But some in Iran's arch foe the US are concerned that Tehran could be funding insurgents or trying to play on anti-Western sentiment in Karzai's government.
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