What was the state of relations between Baathist Iraq and Taliban Afghanistan?
Upvote:-3
Some people, possibly trying to justify the 2003 war on Iraq, have tried to tie Saddam to the Taliban. Such ideas are pure smear and have no basis in fact. Just as one example of the tenuous nature of such allegations, consider this declassified-on-purpose US State Department cable excerpt:
In 1998 a Taliban spokesman meets secretly with US DOS and "wonders" (after American prompting) if Saddam Hussein is, like a snake, the "root cause" of Al-Qaeda. It's absurd to treat garbage like this, as some kind of "proof" that the Taliban was connected to Saddam Hussein.
Saddam Hussein and the entire Baathist government of Iraq were Alawites, like the Syrian governing minority. They worship figures like the prophet Hussein, although the dimensions of their religion are obscure because it has secret elements. The Taliban is primarily composed of Pashtuns who are Sunni and they hate the Alawites, whom they view as heretics. The Taliban regularly massacres the Alawite minority in Pakistan and Afghanistan. On 8 May 2015, the Qatari (Sunni) television channel, Al-Jazeera, broadcast a debate intended to explain the necessity for all Sunnis to torture and massacre all Alawites. They conducted a "poll" the results of which was that 96.20% of viewers believed all Alawites should be put to death. That's the nature of the "relations" between the Taliban and the Alawites.
I would not consider Iraq and Iran to be "bitter" enemies. Although they fought a war, there were primarily political reasons for the war. From an ethnic and religious point of view the two are much more similar to each other than to the various Sunni tribes. The Alawi religion is roughly aligned, like Iran, with Shiite Islam, so although the Iranians are suspicious of them, they are not calling for genocide against them, the way the Sunnis, like the Taliban, do.
Did they try to join forces against it? No. At the time in question the Taliban was a irregular force with no fixed leadership, no heavy weapons and an ideological hatred for Alawis.
Upvote:3
http://www.wnd.com/2006/06/36589/
Talks about a link to a certain document that refers to Saddam's contacts with the Taliban. At the same it also refers to reports where Saddam was willing to help the US with the search for Bin Laden. The true extent can only be summed up as follows: They were playing all sides.
More post
- 📝 How were mounted infantry (like dragoons) used in battle?
- 📝 Is there evidence to suggest the CIA didn't want Reagan to end the Cold War?
- 📝 Has a head of state ever actually killed another in battle?
- 📝 Impact of the spread of disease from non-Europeans to virgin populations in the Old World
- 📝 Why are church reformist centers all outside the boundary of the original Roman Empire?
- 📝 Do we have any authentic Native American flute music from the 18th century or earlier?
- 📝 How long did it take for a letter to arrive in England in the 1830s?
- 📝 What is the first recorded instance of jet lag?
- 📝 Are there any records of ancient people looking for the misdirect in a prophecy?
- 📝 Why are the "Three Musketeers" called musketeers?
- 📝 Which Union General identified the defensive value of Cemetery Hill?
- 📝 How did the USSR manage to innovate in an environment characterized by government censorship and high bureaucracy?
- 📝 Drug abuse in the Holy Land?
- 📝 What is the significance of barley as opposed to wheat in Ancient Rome?
- 📝 When did Europeans make Sunday rather than Saturday the seventh day?
- 📝 How was the relation between the Ottoman Empire and Serbia, Greece, and Montenegro during the Second Balkan War?
- 📝 How many words were written before Gutenberg
- 📝 Was Classic Mayan civilization really so gruesome?
- 📝 What present-day monarchs descend from Rodrigo de Borgia, a.k.a., Pope Alexander VI?
- 📝 Buddhists in ancient Alexandria and Rome
- 📝 Did the militarists in Japan look to the Nazis as a model during their takeover?
- 📝 Did Greek traders visit the Philippines in the 1st century AD?
- 📝 Has anyone tried to map the Tribal Hidage
- 📝 Did Archery evolve independently on separate continents?
- 📝 What happened to the King Bar in Saigon?
- 📝 What pharaoh did Cambyses defeat in the invasion of Egypt?
- 📝 Does a year 1900 meeting in a Masonic Hall imply that it was a meeting of Freemasons?
- 📝 Katabami mon (Japanese crests of wood sorrel) Crest family identity
- 📝 How were the earliest automatic traffic lights automated?
- 📝 What was so "hot" about hot cakes?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What was the state of relations between Baathist Iraq and Taliban Afghanistan?
- 📝 Is the history of relations between Ukraine and Russia similar to what was between Ireland and Uk?
- 📝 What was the shortest time between a historical event occuring and a museum opening dedicated to said event?
- 📝 What Was the State of German Tank Design In Between the World Wars?
- 📝 In the British empire, what was the difference between a Governor General and a Viceroy?
- 📝 What was the border regime between Poland and Czechoslovakia like during the 1970s and 1980s?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Indian caste system and martial skills?
- 📝 What was the impact of Fischer vs. Spassky 1972 on the relationship between the USA and the Soviet Union?
- 📝 What were the relations between Romania and Bulgaria before WWI?
- 📝 What was the personal relationship between Benito Mussolini and Hitler?
- 📝 What was the difference in the minds of the Romans between human sacrifice and gladiator games?
- 📝 In American Civil War era paper cartridges, what was taking up the space between powder and bullet?
- 📝 What was the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Carolingian emperors?
- 📝 Was the US close to running out of volunteer manpower during the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars?
- 📝 What was the difference between a WWII Engineer General Service Regiment and a Service Unit?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Angles, Saxons, and Jutes; and the Vikings?
- 📝 How was Pre-Samurai Japan structured ? What part did solders and warriors play in the yayoi culture and how did the Yamato state wage war ?
- 📝 What was the relationship between slaves and poor Romans needing jobs in Rome's labour market?
- 📝 What was the Jiangxi Soviet's language of operation between 1931 and 1934?
- 📝 What was the relation between the biblical king Herod and the Parthian king Orodes II?
- 📝 What was the troop ratio between the Reds and the Whites in the Russian Revolution?
- 📝 What was the difference between Hussars and Chasseurs à Cheval in the 19th Century French army?
- 📝 What was the natural population growth of Scotland between 1600 and 1900?
- 📝 What was the relationship between Ottoman emperor Murat IV and his mother Kosem Sultan?
- 📝 In Shanghai before World War II what were relations like between the Europeans living there and the local Chinese?
- 📝 What was the relationship between ancient Egyptians and Hebrews in documented hieroglyphs?
- 📝 What was the role of state sacrifices and music in Ming China?
- 📝 In the French Empire, what was the difference between french colonies éphémèras and comptoirs français?
- 📝 What is the difference between the union free state and the territories controlled by the federal government?
- 📝 What was the nature of conflict between Helvetii and German in prelude to Gallic Wars?