Bloomberg has published an analytical article whose author believes that the humiliating defeat of the United States in Afghanistan has produced a fiercer enemy for Iran, the Taliban movement.

In his article on the site, journalist Bobby Ghosh explained that the threat posed by the Taliban movement to Iran may not be as existential as the US military presence, Iran's strongest adversary, but nevertheless, the victorious movement poses a grave danger to Tehran at a sensitive moment.

He said that although Iran has intensified its diplomatic contact with the Taliban, the government of incoming (Iranian) President Ebrahim Raisi, which is facing growing resentment at home due to difficult economic conditions, must now deal with renewed risks originating from Afghanistan.

Challenges

The writer also believes that the Taliban may not have an interest in overthrowing the Iranian regime, but its victory in the Afghan civil war will inevitably result in the flow of new waves of refugees towards Iran across the 900-kilometre border between the two countries, accompanied by a rise in drug and human trafficking, as well as on the increase in terrorist activities.

He explained that any sense of schadenfreude in Tehran about US President Joe Biden's attempts to justify his country's withdrawal from Afghanistan would be stifled by disturbing news related to the Taliban's control of Islam Qala land crossing in the Afghan state of Herat, which is a major border point between Afghanistan and Iran.

Reports indicate that Afghan security forces and customs officials, who were guarding Islam Qala, fled towards the Iranian side when the Taliban fighters arrived.

Islam Qala is not only an important transit point for trade between the two countries, but also a gateway to the Afghan city of Herat, where the Iranian Consulate in Afghanistan is located.

Drugs and terrorism

The article touched on another set of threats to Iran's interests that are likely to emerge with the Taliban's extension of control over Afghanistan, including the problem of hashish, which is the main source of the movement's revenue.

He said that the movement's practical leaders understand that Iran is a good corridor for the export of cannabis to Western markets, and if part of that drug falls from the trucks carrying it on Iranian soil and poisons the Iranian people, that is not a problem for the Taliban leaders.

According to the article, Iran has one of the highest rates of drug addiction in the world, and the writer says that this percentage will almost certainly rise with the Taliban increasing its drug exports after the withdrawal of US forces, to secure more weapons and fighters in their battles against government forces, according to what the writer claims .

There is also the danger of terrorism. The writer says that although Iran has provided shelter and safe passage to senior al-Qaeda leaders, many other extremist groups allied with the Taliban see it as a stubborn enemy.

The writer also believes that these groups, after getting rid of the Americans, will search for new targets in other places, which raises the alarm in China and Russia, but Iran, due to its hostility and geographical proximity, is the most vulnerable.