RUSSIA, IRAN JOINTLY SUPPLY AFGHAN CLIENTS.

Local residents, international aid workers, and the Turkish consul in Mazar-e-Sharif (northern Afghanistan) were quoted yesterday as confirming reports that Russia and Iran are supplying the forces of Afghan warlords Rashid Dostum and Ahmad Shah-Masood, who are fighting against the Taliban movement. The sources reported having seen columns of Russian-made tanks and armored vehicles delivered to Dostum; Russian and Iranian cargo flights landing constantly in Masood’s territory; and Iranian truck convoys supplying both warlords’ forces. (AP, April 17) Reports to this effect had surfaced last month. Russian-Iranian cooperation in Afghanistan is one facet of a wide pattern of cooperation among Moscow and Tehran in the South Caucasus and Central Asia. (See also South Caucasus section above)

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