Why Iran Won’t Leave Afghanistan

[Ars Moriendi]

Pakistan has strong influence in Afghanistan not Iran. If Iran want Afghanistan, then they must send army. But Afghanistan is mountain country, this is why very difficult to occupy.

Pakistan's influence in Afghanistan is related to the cross-border Pashtun ethnicity. It's also why the US has developed a heavy drone bombardment campaign in both countries.

Iran's influence is developed in the Western side of the country (Herat being the prime example), and the Pashtun are wary of the Persians. Iran's biggest allies in Afghanistan are the Tajiks and the Hazara.
Iran is not seeking to annex Afghanistan, only to get a cooperative regime in Kabul, weaken the US there, and expand economic and cultural ties (in turn allowing them to reach Tajikistan more easily as well).

[wvwvw]

It is hard to believe that the ancestors of Taliban were once Buddhists. Hard to picture Afghanistan as a Buddhist country at anytime in history

[Ars Moriendi]

It is hard to believe that the ancestors of Taliban were once Buddhists. Hard to picture Afghanistan as a Buddhist country at anytime in history

Pashtuns are Eastern Iranics, not really Indo-Aryans (who they themselves were originally Vedic, not Buddhist).

[N1019]

Iran is not seeking to annex Afghanistan, only to get a cooperative regime in Kabul, weaken the US there, and expand economic and cultural ties (in turn allowing them to reach Tajikistan more easily as well).

You might find similarities between Iranian influence in Afghanistan and Iraq, election results, terrorism/insurgencies and energy deals etc. Iran is trying to move in (or move back in, as may be the case), while the US and allies try to push them back out, except where it suits them. The US is supporting a gas pipeline running from Pakistan, through Afghanistan to Turkmenistan, then under the Caspian Sea, leaving Iran (and Russia) out of the picture.