Iran has been accused of supplying weapons and providing training to the Taliban. The foreign troops in Afghanistan have often intercepted weapons, rockets and missiles that are said to have originated in Iran. Mohsen Milani in an interview to The Iran Primer claimed that Iran has no official relations or policy towards the Taliban but this does not preclude the possibility of some elements within the Revolutionary Guards extending support to it. Similarly, Iran could make use of non-state actors to supply weapons to the Taliban. What factors encourage Iran to extend support to the Taliban? How can this support be detrimental to Iran s short-term and long-term interests?

Among the many mysteries inside Iran's ruling hierarchy, the Quds Force has a special place in the shadows. It's been linked by Western officials and others to dozens of clandestine operations around the world such as a deadly bombing of a Jewish cultural center in Buenos Aires in 1994, aiding Shiite militias in Iraq and helping arm Afghanistan's Taliban - and now as the alleged masterminds of a plot to kill the Saudi Arabian ambassador in Washington.

Iran quietly hosted a delegation of Taliban members in Tehran this month in a powerful and unusual signal of its ambition to shape the trajectory of the Afghanistan conflict as U.S. troops begin to withdraw.

Today, the Taliban have evolved into a formidable armed organization fighting U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan. Ironically, the strategic interests of Tehran and Taliban have converged today, as each, independent of the other and for different reasons, oppose the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan and demand their immediate and unconditional withdrawal.