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| Afghanistan |
| Iran 'handing cash to Karzai's chief of staff for influence in Afghanistan' |
| 2010-10-24 |
| Iranian officials have been handing bundles of cash to Hamid Karzai's chief of staff as part of an effort to gain influence in Afghanistan and sideline Nato, according to Afghan and Western sources in Kabul. The payments, which officials say total millions of dollars, go into a secret fund used by Umar Daudzai and Mr Karzai, the Afghan president, to pay Afghan politicians, tribal elders and even Taliban commanders to secure their loyalty, according to a report by the New York Times. "It's basically a presidential slush fund," a Western official said. "Daudzai's mission is to advance Iranian interests." The Iranian payments are intended to secure the allegiance of Mr Daudzai, a former ambassador to Tehran, who consistently advocates an anti-Western line to Mr Karzai, the officials said. An aide to Mr Daudzai dismissed the allegations as "rubbish". The latest allegations of Iranian interference come at a critical time for Afghanistan. Afghanistan's neighbours are jockeying for position amid frequent reports of meetings between Afghan officials and insurgents, with increasing evidence that a reconciliation process has begun. Last week The Daily Telegraph disclosed that Mullah Baradar, a senior figure in the Afghan Taliban, had been spirited from custody in Pakistan to Afghanistan for talks. Rahimullah Yusufzai, an analyst based in Pakistan's northwestern city of Peshawar, said Iran had been pouring money into Afghanistan supporting allies among Shia groups and even offering money to Sunni insurgents among the Taliban in order to bog down US troops in a never-ending war. "They can't afford to have America so strong on two of their borders – Iraq and Afghanistan," he said. "They see it as a struggle for survival. They think the US is planning anti-Iranian actions so this is a pre-emptive move to protect their Afghan border." Iran has long viewed the presence of the US in Afghanistan with suspicion. |
| Posted by:tipper |