KABUL: Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf) claims that a member of the elite al-Quds force of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was captured in southern Afghanistan and has been 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 operations.
He was targeted “for facilitating the movement of weapons between Iran and Kandahar through Nimroz province,” the Isaf spokeman 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 which has been fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan for nine years.
