Reprinted with permission from David Henderson’s Substack.
I’ve been reading many people on many sites claiming that we have been at war with Iran for 47 years. I found that odd because I thought I distinctly remembered good relations between the Iran and U.S. governments after 9/11. So I asked ChatGPT, “What did the Iranian government do in 2001 to help the U.S. government after the 9/11 attacks?”
I got a long answer that fit what I had vaguely remembered. Here it is:
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, the Iranian government actually provided several forms of practical assistance to the United States and the emerging Afghan government in the campaign against the Taliban and al-Qaeda. This cooperation was limited and short-lived, but it was real and fairly significant in late 2001.
1. Intelligence sharing and operational cooperation
Iran quietly cooperated with the United States during the early phase of the war in Afghanistan.
- Iranian officials met with U.S. diplomats in Geneva in late 2001 to coordinate efforts against the Taliban.
- Iran helped identify Taliban targets and provided intelligence that assisted U.S. bombing campaigns.
- Iranian Revolutionary Guard elements working with anti-Taliban forces helped organize operations against Taliban positions.
Iran had strong reasons for this: the Taliban were a bitter enemy of Iran, especially after Taliban forces killed Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan in 1998.
2. Support for the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance
Before and after 9/11, Iran backed the Northern Alliance, the main Afghan force fighting the Taliban.
- Iran supplied the alliance with money, weapons, and training.
- When the U.S. began military operations in October 2001, the Northern Alliance served as the main ground force against the Taliban.
- Iranian networks helped facilitate cooperation between Northern Alliance commanders and U.S. forces.
This assistance indirectly strengthened the U.S.-led campaign because Northern Alliance offensives, combined with U.S. airpower, rapidly toppled the Taliban government.
3. Direct assistance in the fall of Herat
Iranian special-operations forces (the Quds Force) reportedly worked with anti-Taliban fighters in western Afghanistan.
- They helped organize an uprising in the city of Herat in November 2001, which helped drive out Taliban forces before U.S. troops arrived.
4. Diplomatic help creating the new Afghan government
Iran also played a constructive role in the Bonn Conference (December 2001), which created the interim Afghan government after the Taliban collapsed.
- Iranian diplomats pressured Afghan factions they influenced to accept compromises.
- They helped secure support for Hamid Karzai as the head of the new Afghan interim government.
Several U.S. officials later said Iran’s role was instrumental in reaching the final agreement.
5. Safety assurances and humanitarian cooperation
Through back channels (mainly via Switzerland):
- Iran signaled it would help U.S. personnel who accidentally crossed into Iranian territory during operations near the Afghan border.
- It also cooperated on refugee and humanitarian issues involving Afghanistan.
Why the cooperation ended
The brief cooperation collapsed in early 2002 after U.S. policy shifted. In January 2002, President George W. Bush labeled Iran part of the “Axis of Evil.” After that, diplomatic contacts largely stopped and relations deteriorated again. (Bold in original.)
ChatGPT then said, “If you want, I can also tell you which U.S. officials later described this cooperation and how extensive they believed it was—some of their accounts are surprisingly positive.”
I said I did, and it listed James Dobbins, Ryan Crocker, Robert Gates, and Colin Powell, and quoted from each about how helpful Iran’s government had been.
David R. Henderson is an Emeritus Professor of Economics at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California, a Research Fellow with the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, a Senior Fellow with Canada’s Fraser Institute, and a Senior Fellow with the Independent Institute. He was previously a senior economist for health policy and for energy policy with President Reagan’s Council of Economic Advisers.
