Do you have a link by any chance
You can click on the arrow.
Do you have a link by any chance
You can click on the arrow.
That is ASBish frankly. Besides the aforementioned issues that I mentioned last year (quoted above and linked here) Pakistan historically threatened all-out war and that got the Iranians to stop.A
Don't worry, they wont, just not as far as all out total war, mostly for problems of the Taliban's doing. It will get pretty messy, however.
Indian sabre rattling?That is ASBish frankly. Besides the aforementioned issues that I mentioned last year (quoted above and linked here) Pakistan historically threatened all-out war and that got the Iranians to stop.
How is that avoided in this TL?
Ah, fuck it. Lets do a war TL. Pakistan launches Operation Taimur Khan. Multiple strategic strikes on Iranian population centres and infrastructure. I say Tehran, Maashad and Isfgahan absorb multiple hits while places liken Tabri, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas get only one love tap each. Pakistan probably spares Qom for religious reasons.The Buildup to War: IranAs news of the massacres of Hazara, Tajik, and other minorities by the Taliban filtered into Iran, and anger tover the massacre at the Iranian consulate grew to a boiling point, public support for a war in Afghanistan festered despite memories of conflict with Iraq just a decade prior. Clerics preached against the Sunni Taliban's oppression and haphazard slaughter of both Iranian citizens and diplomats and their own homeland's populace, proclaiming their duty to save the regions Shiite ethnic groups and liberate the people of Afghanistan, being largely Persian in nature. The revolutionary guard echoed this strong and cutthroat sentiment, with officials as high as Yahya Rahim Safavi, chief commander of only one year, engaging in dangerously heated rhetoric and a war of words with the Taliban.
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Iranian military exercise near Zabol
Statements from the Ayatollah, while far more low key and statesman-like, were nonetheless stern and uncompromising, giving no indication of tensions cooling. President Mohammad Khatami would follow suit, keeping in form with the supreme leader and the former president. Internally, however, there was fierce debate between key political and military figures. All facets of the Iranian government knew the risks of armed conflict with the Taliban in Afghanistan, including the potential of a breakdown of relations and possible conflict with Pakistan, now a nuclear armed state. This fear was not to be understated, as Pakistan held many logistical advantages over Iran. Furthermore, more pacifist oriented officials argued, a prolonged conflict could render the public war weary and hand the Taliban power and legitimacy by mere attrition.![]()
Yahya Rahim Safavi, Chief Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard
More militant officials argued that a war could be won relatively quickly. They believed Massoud and the Northern Alliance could be utilized in retaking much of the north, reclaiming Mazar and Samangan before pushing into the heart of Afghanistan, towards Bamyan. Iranian ground forces, backed by air strikes and shelling, would enter through Zaranj and Farah, engaging in a ground offensive eventually leading towards a push to Kandahar. This plan was criticized mainly due to a lack of infrastructure both inn Khorasan and on the Afghan side of the border, an issue that could incur a serious logistical nightmare.
Other options ranged between merely funding and arming the various militias of the United Islamic Front to active airstrikes and limited engagement, and as tensions continued to simmer, a course of action needed to be decided on sooner rather than later. Meanwhile, through out the first two weeks of December, various foreign officials varying from UN sponsored diplomats and foreign ministers from countries including Pakistan, Russia, India, and Uzbekistan among others, would find themselves in Tehran in a desperate attempt to keep the peace, the possibility of war now very high. Furthermore, a team of United Nations diplomats would be set to meet on September 22nd in New York, noted not only for the conflict but also for the amount of contact expected between Iranian and US diplomats, a rare occasion. However, by the time that Tuesday would come about, the tension would break, forcing Iran to act fast and the world to divert its attention.
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Writers note: So this was interesting timing to do an Iran TL
......India will risk nuclear war in order to help Iran get an advantage in Afghanistan, at a time when both Pak and India are trying to improve relations?Indian sabre rattling?
Pakistan is so eager to fight a war the Taliban started that it's will to risk war, nuclear or conventional with India? Even if India doesn't posture, war with Iran cedes initiative in Kashmir to India.......India will risk nuclear war in order to help Iran get an advantage in Afghanistan, at a time when both Pak and India are trying to improve relations?
Is the Pakistani military really so feeble that its only recourse is to open the war with a nuclear attack? The Pakistani army must be absolutely pathetic.Ah, fuck it. Lets do a war TL. Pakistan launches Operation Taimur Khan. Multiple strategic strikes on Iranian population centres and infrastructure. I say Tehran, Maashad and Isfgahan absorb multiple hits while places liken Tabri, Shiraz, Bandar Abbas get only one love tap each. Pakistan probably spares Qom for religious reasons.
WTC '93 and the 1998 embassy bombings have already put al-Qaeda firmly in US crosshairs by the outbreak of the Iran-Afghan War ITTL (the latter actually occurring only a day before the attack on the Iranian consulate).