Jundullah answers some questions on Manas and US cooperation, raises others
Jundullah's spokesman speaks to an Arabic newspaper, and asks many of the same questions as I did about why the group's leader would be going to Manas Transit Center in Kyrgyzstan:
Ridiculing Tehran's official version of the arrest of Rigi, Narui asked: "How can they say he was traveling to Kyrgyzstan to meet with US officials at a time when there is a large US base in Afghanistan? Why should he travel to that country to meet with them when there was no need for him to do so because there are Americans in Afghanistan and Pakistan?"
He also asked: "Which is closer? Kyrgyzstan or Dubai? Why would he take a long route and travel via Dubai while he knew that the plane would fly in Iranian airspace and that there was a possibility he would be kidnapped?" "That is why we say they are lying", he remarked.
Nauri says that, instead, the U.S., in cooperation with Mossad, arrested Rigi in Kandahar. Which, if it were true, would raise another large bunch of questions, about how and/or why the U.S. would have handed him over to the Iranian authorities. More to come from this, for sure.
Joshua Kucera, a senior correspondent, is Eurasianet's former Turkey/Caucasus editor and has written for the site since 2007.
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