"...A recent open-source research report prepared by HTS researchers in the United States and obtained by Danger Room probes the history of Iranian activities in Afghanistan’s Bamiyan province, from humanitarian assistance to direct military aid. As the report puts it, oh-so-blandly: “Iranian influence in Afghanistan, both positive and negative aspects, is a current topic of interest.”
You bet it is. While Tehran cooperated with Washington after the fall of the Taliban, relations have not improved substantially since then — and a few years ago, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates evenclaimed that Iran was turning a blind eye to Taliban weapons smuggling. Bamiyan is home to the Hazaras, who share historical ties to Iran: the Shia religion and Persian language. Equally important, many residents of Bamiyan have spent time working as migrant laborers in Iran.
As the report concludes, Iranian influence in Bamiyan isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Iran has helped rebuild schools, provide emergency food assistance and build libraries throughout Afghanistan. It is also a major investment partner: Iran has sunk money into Afghanistan’s power sector, agriculture and transportation grid. Iran, the report notes, can also have a subtle modernizing influence on Afghan visitors: The report notes that Afghan women, in particular, “have returned to Bamiyan with greater interest in education or employment.”
But most Iranian attention is focused on Herat, a major city on Afghanistan’s western border. “Apart from the occasional press references to Iranian support for Bamiyan’s development and recovery, there is little evidence that suggests any other kind of substantial Iranian activity in Bamiyan today,” the report states..."
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