Jun 6, 2016

An article on hard-line Iranian news website Jahan has confirmed for the first time that the recently killed Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Mansour was in Iran before he was killed May 21. While Iranian media had previously confirmed meetings with Taliban officials, the article shows a deeper strategic shift in Iran toward a group it previously helped topple in order to counter the rising threat of the Islamic State (IS) on its eastern border.

According to the article, Mansour was in Iran one week before he was killed by a US drone strike in Pakistan’s Baluchistan province. Mansour had reportedly spent two months in Iran and conducted “various negotiations with different organizations and institutions.”

Jahan reported that one of the agreements between Iran and Mansour was “the prevention of Taliban bodies from joining [IS].” Iran and Mansour had also reportedly agreed to prevent the spread of IS influence in northern Afghanistan and on the Afghan-Tajikistan border. There had also been agreements to counter drug smuggling. A large percentage of Afghanistan’s opium production is either consumed in Iran or travels through Iran to its final destination in Europe.

The article reported that “there is no specific information” on how Mansour was targeted and denied reports that Iran was somehow involved. The article rather speculated that Mansour’s “semi-independence” from Pakistan could have displeased some members of its spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence, and they may have given Mansour’s location to the United States.

Jahan’s motivation for publishing the article and revealing previously unconfirmed information cannot be known. Political motivations or even disinformation should not be ruled out. However, it is a startling admission given the history between Iran and the Taliban.