Commander of US and NATO forces in Afghanistan General David Petraeus says Iran has interests in a stable Afghanistan and that Tehran opposes the Taliban.
The Islamic Republic is as fearful as the United States that Iran might become “a sanctuary for transnational terrorists,” Petraeus said in an interview with the VOA's Persian Service on Friday.
“Iran also opposes the extreme Sunni leadership in al-Qaeda and the Taliban,” Petraeus went on to say.
Commenting on Iran's financial aid to the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the US general noted that the aid Karzai has been getting from Iran is small compared with what his government has received from the United States and its allies.
President Karzai on Monday said that his chief of staff had received money from Iran, but insisted that the process was transparent and a form of aid from a friendly country.
“Cash payments are done by various friendly countries to help the presidential office and to help the expenses,” said Karzai at a press conference in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
In 2002, Tehran pledged $570 million to Afghanistan's reconstruction and paid the final installment in March 2006.
During a conference on Afghan reconstruction in February 2006, Iran pledged an additional $100 million in aid, making the country one of the largest donor states to its neighbor's reconstruction since the US lead invasion of the country in 2001.
The Islamic Republic has also worked bilaterally with the Afghan government to build roads and rail lines to increase cross-border transportation.
Civilian deaths by US-led forces in Afghanistan have significantly contributed to anti-American sentiments in the country of more than 28 million people.
The Afghans regularly hold rallies in protest to the killing of civilians, who they say mainly fall victim to the foreign military operations.
