Karzai admits to receiving bags of Iranian cash

WASHINGTON - Afghan President Hamid Karzai has admitted to accepting bags of cash from Iran.

Karzai told reporters Monday that once or twice a year Iran gives his office 700,000 to 975,000 dollars for official presidential expenses.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, Karzai’s admitted in a press conference Monday that his office accepts “bags of money” from bald acknowledgment brings out into the open two uncomfortable facts confronting the US plan to build a modern democracy in Afghanistan.

Just as in Iraq, Iran is successfully buying influence with Afghan leaders. And Karzai - like many members of Afghanistan’s political class - sees bags of cash as a perfectly legitimate tool of statecraft.

According to the CSM, Iran, first and foremost, wants pressure put on international forces to leave its doorstep.

“The Iranians are happy with the Karzai regime being established in Afghanistan - in this way, the US and Iran are aligned. But when it comes to international forces in Afghanistan, the Iranians are quite unhappy about this,” says Waliullah Rahmani, head of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies.

They have also extended support for the revival of the Taliban in Afghanistan in some areas. (ANI)