Iran assisted U.S. militarily following 9/11, but after Israel derailed Iran-U.S. rapprochement, IRGC’s roles in liberating Afghanistan were concealed by U.S.
Israel’s Response to 9/11
9/11 Attacks: 1 WTC struck at 08:46 EDT/15:46 Tel Aviv; 2 WTC at 09:03/16:03; Pentagon, 09:53/16:53. Israeli PM Ariel Sharon convenes national security meeting. Present: Sharon; Yossi Sarid (Opposition Leader); Efraim Halevy (Director, Mossad); Avi Dichter (Director, Shin Bet); Amos Malka (chief of Aman); General Shaul Mofaz, an Iranian émigré and IDF Chief of General Staff.
Decisions Made re Palestinians: take advantage of Washington’s distraction: Sept. 11th, IDF besieged West Bank refugee camps and Jenin; 12th, IDF tanks entered Jericho; 15th, major IDF incursion into Gaza, with armor, infantry, and helicopters.
Sharon initiates “Perle Plan”: “A Clean Break: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm,” viz., “Iraq First, Iran Second.” Syria and Hizballah to be dealt with once Tehran fell. Not coincidentally, Richard Perle was one the scores of Israeli agents embedded in the Bush Administration. They got to work. CIA’s Iraq Operations Group (IOG) was established within six (6) hours of 9/11 with support from DCI George Tenet. The next morning, Sept. 12th, Luis Rueda (Chief of IOG) and John Maguire (Dep. Chief, IOG) were at Langley (see “The CIA’s war-before-war: From Iraq to Iran).
Iran’s Response to 9/11
Iran offered unconditional military and diplomatic support. An Iranian diplomat explained how Tehran viewed 9/11:
“[9/11] was a national tragedy for the United States […]. There was not another moment in U.S. history when there was more of a psychological need for [military] success on the U.S. part. That is why we [Islamic Republic of Iran] consciously decided not to qualify our cooperation on Afghanistan or make it contingent upon a change in U.S. policy, believing, erroneously, that the impact would be of such magnitude that it would automatically have altered the nature of Iran-U.S. relations.” (see Slavin Bitter Friends, Bosom Enemies)
Iran’s Diplomatic Initiatives
Ryan Crocker (State Dept.) and team met secretly in Geneva with IRGC officers who reported to Qasem Suleimani (see “The Shadow Commander”). IRGC supplied maps, battle plans, and intelligence indispensable to “Operation Enduring Freedom” (OEF). Iran was central to (1) bringing Afghan factions together; and (2) in reaching the Bonn Agreement (2001) on post-Taliban Afghanistan.
Jawad Zarif (Deputy Foreign Minister), insisted, “don’t you think that the new Afghan regime should be committed to hold democratic elections?” Iran’s position is reflected in Bonn Agreement § I (4), for a “fully representative government [to] be elected through free and fair elections.”
Iran’s Military Actions
Afghanistan is landlocked (map 1). Vladimir Putin gave Uzbekistan the nod to allow U.S. to use Karshi-Khanabad Air Base (“K2”); Kyrgyzstan to permit use of Manas Air Base; and Tajikistan to offer staging and air transit rights. Pakistan was strong-armed into allowing transit for U.S. planes. But bases and air transit rights were insufficient to transport and stage the quantities of men and material necessary for assaults against the major cities: Qandahar—the Taliban’s heartland—and Mazar-i Sharif, Kabul, and Herat.
Herat is the western end of the Herat-Qandahar Highway (map 2). If the U.S. captured Herat, it could block Taliban re-supply of the northwest. Troops and supplies airlifted to Herat Airport would be available for the Qandahar campaign.
The 3rd battalion, 75th Ranger regiment did a combat jump 190 km SW of Qandahar on 19 Oct., but that mission (“Operation Rhino”) had limited objectives. Airborne invasion of Herat, even with firepower of AC-130H Spectre gunships, risked high casualties. It was decided that Herat would be captured by troops entering from Iran.
The Fall of Herat
Maj.-Gen. Yahya Rahim Safavi (Cmdr, IRGC) and Maj.-Gen. Qasem Suleimani (IRGC Intelligence, Iraq and Afghanistan) were integral to OEF. They planned it with Admiral Sir Michael Boyce (UK Chief of Defense Staff), Gen. Tommy Franks (CENTCOM Cmdr), and CIA.
“First Special Operational Detachment Alpha” (ODA 554; call sign “Texas 08”), SAS 22nd Regiment, and equipment, entered Iran through Chabahar port, thence to IRGC bases along the Iran-Afghanistan border.
IRGC trained two mujahideen groups for the Herat mission, comprising 1,000 Hazara (Shia); 5,000 Tajik (Sunni) led by Ismail Khan. IRGC-QF was operating in Afghanistan before OEF commenced; and IRGC was embedded with Ahmad Shah Masoud’s (d. 9/9/2001) Panjshiri muj (led by Muhammad Fahim). U.S. and Iranian officers monitored operations from a control center in Tehran and coordinated with CENTCOM.
Late on Sun., 11 Nov 2001, IRGC-QF penetrated the border crossing at Islam Qala, neutralized guards and held the checkpoint. Thousands of muj in pickups and Land Cruisers left IRGC bases and sped along Iran’s Route 36, through Islam Qala crossing, and made the 128 km to Herat along the (dodgy) Afghan highway now called “Asian Highway 1.”
ODA 554 seized Herat Airport, 16 km south of Herat on the 11th/12th. SAS neutralized Taliban command and control. IRGC-QF arranged for an “uprising” in Herat, which transpired on the 12th. ODA 554 and IRGC-QF fought side-by-side in skirmishes with Taliban. Herat fell on the 12th. Ismail Khan became governor (2001–04).
“Our friends, the Israelis”
OEF was a “Flawed Masterpiece,” but could have ended badly without Tehran. Gen. Franks, in his self-serving autobiography, American Soldier, does not acknowledge the roles of IRGC, Safavi, or Suleimani.
Dick Camp, Boots on the Ground: only that ODA 554 was “inserted by helicopter into western Afghanistan near the city of Herat…” Camp consistently maligns Iran.
Gary Schroen, head of Operation Jawbreaker, in CIA’s “official” account, First In, focuses on engagements with Panjshiri and Uzbek muj. Schroen excises Iran’s roles, leaving readers to assume western Afghanistan miraculously liberated itself.
Maligning of Iran stems from Israeli machinations. Tel Aviv was panicked by the thaw in U.S.-Iran relations (see, e.g., “Destabilizing Implications of Iranian-U.S. Rapprochement”). Israel’s embedded agents elected Iran founding member of the “Axis of Evil” (Bush’s speech was written by David Frum, a “fervent supporter” of Ariel Sharon).
Americans are brainwashed that Israel is The Only Democracy in the Middle East® and “our closest ally.” IOG was created within six hours of 9/11. The speed with which Israel steered U.S. onto the Iraq War road lends credence to suspicions that Mossad knew of al-Qaida’s plans. The “Dancing Israelis” report is dismissed as “conspiracy theory” and “anti-semitic”; however, FBI, pursuant to FOIA demand (FOIPA No.: 1169683-001), released 183 redacted pages from the 215 page investigation of the Israelis filming the WTC attacks and celebrating. The FBI report suggests that Mossad had advance knowledge of 9/11.
Iran stepped up; Israel hijacked 9/11. Iran got shafted; America got shafted.
Perspectives 
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