Well, that didn’t take long. Hours after Nick Burns told CNN that the administration has “irrefutable evidence” that Iran is arming the Taliban, Defense Secretary Bob Gates revised his June 4 remarks that the provenance of the Iranian weaponry is unclear. Here’s Gates then:
There have been indications over the past few months of weapons coming in from Iran. We do not have any information about whether the government of Iran is supporting this, is behind it, or whether it’s smuggling or exactly what’s behind this, but there clearly is evidence that some weapons are coming into Afghanistan destined for the Taliban, but perhaps also for criminal elements involved in the drug trafficking coming from Iran.
And here’s Gates now:
“It’s pretty clear there is a fairly substantial flow of weapons (into Afghanistan),” he said. “I haven’t seen intelligence specifically to this effect, but I would say given the qualities we’re seeing, it’s difficult to believe it is associated with smuggling or the drug business or that it is taking place without the knowledge of the Iranian government.”
So it’s now “difficult to believe” that Tehran might not be involved in the weapons shipments, despite the absence of any particular intelligence on the question. Gates has been the most prominent dissonant voice on Iran — and the Middle East more broadly — in the Bush administration, yet here he is, inching closer toward the line that Burns unveiled to CNN. How long before he cites his own “irrefutable evidence?”
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