Most of Iran’s activity is concentrated in Western Afghanistan, in the provinces that abut Iran where Iran has had influence for centuries.
An aide to Afghan’s president told The Wall Street Journal in Herat, the major city in the West, “Iran is the real influence here. With one snap of their fingers, they can mobilize 20,000 Afghans.”
He shuddered at the impact Iran has. “This is much more dangerous than the suicide bombers coming from Pakistan. At least you can see them and fight them. But you can’t as easily see and fight Iran’s political and cultural influence.”
Many leading Afghan government officials have received Iranian support for years. President Hamid Karzai two years ago admitted that his office has regularly received suitcases of cash from Tehran, with as much as $1 million in euros stuffed inside, in exchange for “good relations.”
What’s more, Iran is the main supplier of electricity to western Afghan cities like Herat, an hour’s drive from the border.
Iran’s main vehicle for spreading its influence is the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee (IKRC), a secretive aid organization that operates around the world. The IKRC works directly with Afghan applicants, combining economic help with seeding efforts to gather intelligence, the Journal quoted Western and Afghan officials as saying.
An Afghan man named Ali, who says he worked for the IKRC vetting applicants for aid, told the Journal those applicants must supply extensive information on backgrounds and contact details of their extended family. US officials believe IKRC uses the process to ensure aid goes only to those loyal to Iran.
A senior US official predicted Iran’s efforts would fail, however, because Afghans view them with suspicion. Such suspicions are the main problem the Islamic Republic has faced elsewhere, such as in Iraq and Azerbaijan.
But aid sometimes overcomes suspicions. The Iranians paid for the wedding of Dunya and Saytaki Husseini, providing $400 and traditional clothes for the ceremony. “The Iranians are doing more than the Americans,” said Husseini. “Iran is in all of our lives.”
Reza, the manager of a local library stocked by Iran said, “I would be happy if the US would provide this aid, too, but they don’t. So I’m working with Iranian aid.”
An employee said the library had little choice: Officials from the Iranian consulate in Herat threatened to cut off funding this spring unless the library promoted more Iranian programs.
Another demand, the employee said, was to commemorate the June 3 anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini. The library, needing the funds, agreed to increase its classes on Iranian culture.
“Soft power” isn’t the only kind Iran projects. Herat provincial officials say they have seen a rise in insurgent activity by groups with Iranian backing. Insurgents “have safe houses in Iran and fight against the Afghan government,” said Herat’s governor, Daoud Saba.
Afghan officials also say Iranian diplomats have long funded Afghan media outlets, and in August, officials in Iran’s embassy in Kabul met with four Afghan TV stations and three newspapers in an effort to establish a union of Afghan journalists that the Journal said would be dedicated to voicing the Iranian line.
Afghanistan’s intelligence agency struck back, arresting several Iranian journalists it claimed were Iranian spies. A Kabul-based reporter for Iran’s semiofficial Fars News Agency remains in custody.
Mobarez Rashidi, Afghan-istan’s deputy minister of culture and information, said the U.S.-led coalition, too, has funded Afghan media to foster pro-American views. He drew a distinction, however. “We welcome countries that support media clearly and openly,” he said.
The US focuses aid on restive provinces where the Taliban are strong, mainly in the South and East, while Iran puts funds in areas that tend to be pro-Iranian, Western provinces and areas heavily populated by Hazaras, the one big Afghan ethnic group that is Shia.
Permission to enter Iran is another tool used by Iran, the Journal reported. At Iranian-run clinics and mosques in Herat, when Afghans seek to enter Iran for medical care or a pilgrimage, only those deemed loyal to Iran get visas, said a senior Western official in Herat.
Herat’s provincial health director felt Iran’s wrath in 2008 when he sought to inspect an Iranian-funded clinic that was accused of giving patients pro-Iranian propaganda. The clinic, Sabz-e-Parsyan, is a gatekeeper for Afghans seeking treatment in Iran. The provincial official, Ghulam Sayed Rashed, says its staff refused to let him inspect the building fully.
He ordered the clinic shut until an inspection was completed, but two days later was overruled by a higher official in Herat. Rashed said he and his family members have been denied visas to visit Iran ever since.