General McChrystal Notes Iranian Role in Afghanistan

Jan 8, 2010

The U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, made the following statement to the Institute of Strategic Studies in London on October 1:

Iran, of course, being, you know, in such proximity to Afghanistan and having significant influence inside Afghanistan, is a big player. They, in my view, they have a lot of very positive influence inside Afghanistan, some of it cultural, some of it financial, just things that any neighbor would have to try to build the stability. I think that if Iran takes a very mature look at a stable Afghanistan and support the government of Afghanistan, then we'll be - we'll be in good shape. If they were to choose not to do that, and they were to choose to support insurgents, I think that would be a significant miscalculation.

(taken from transcript of McChrystal Q&A on the Institute's website in October 2009; it was subsequently removed but you can still watch the whole Q&A here)