9/20/2001

Following 9/11 and the need for support from Afghanistan’s neighbors, “The sensitive task of wooing Iran was handled by British foreign secretary Jack Straw. The Iranian leader, President Mohammed Khatami, was amenable to a war that would see Iran’s hated enemy, the Taliban, destroyed, and he sent [President] Bush a message to that effect through the Canadian government. On September 20 [2001], U.S. officials met with Iranian diplomats as part of the Geneva Group, after which Straw visited Tehran. Iran promised to provide search-and-rescue help if U.S. pilots were shot down, and deployed its military to seal its 560-mile-long border with Afghanistan.”

 – Ahmed Rashid, Descent Into Chaos, Page 66