Here again we see that those in authority had no mechanism for and/or no interest in distinguishing “moderates” who merited being given powerful positions in post-Taliban Afghanistan from Islamic supremacists and jihadists. And even they had cared to make such a distinction and tried to do so, how could they have gone about it? “Wikileaks Afghanistan: police chief doubled as Iranian spy,” by John Bingham in the Telegraph, July 27:
A powerful Afghan police chief doubled as an Iranian spy and drugs lord, a leaked US report claims.
The man, described as a “notorious criminal” is said to have secured his position through the influence of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard over local warlords in southern Afghanistan….
It recounts how the man, named in redacted versions only as X, is said to have had links with Iran stretching back to the time of the war against the invading Soviet forces the 1980s.
“It was reported that [X] is a notorious criminal in Afghanistan and a spy for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC),” the report alleges.
“During the time of the jihad in Afghanistan against the Russians, [X] did not participate in the jihad, but went into Iran and became a spy for the IRGC.
“By order of the IRGC, the jihadi commanders in western Afghanistan were to protect [X] and help him attain a government job.
“In this way, [X] became [a] chief of police.”
While he was chief of police, says the report, he “encouraged the farmers of Bala Bluk, Khaki Safeed, and Bagwa districts, Farah province, to start to cultivate poppies”….