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Iran Trains Hundreds of Taliban Fighters: Report

They’re being trained by special forces at military academies, Taliban and Afghan officials said.

Taliban forces are being trained by special forces at Iran’s elite military academies, Afghan and Taliban officials told The Times of London. Talks between Iran and the Taliban began in the spring, when President Donald Trump was thinking about pulling the U.S. out of its nuclear deal with Iran, a former bomb maker told the newspaper. The Taliban chose its best fighters to go to Iran in small groups, and Taliban sources claim its fighters received as many as 300 visas. “There are between 500 and 600 of us in different stages of training there,” said a Taliban commander. “We learn everything from tactics, leadership skills, recruitment, to bomb making and weapons training. The instructors are all Iranian special forces, although many seem able to speak Pashto as a second language. They wear mixed uniform and treat us very well."