sup-
porting Prime Minister Hamid Karzai and the Taliban, US Army Gen. David Petraeus said Friday.
In an interview with the Voice of America Persian Service, Petraeus, commander of coalition forces in Afghanistan, described the Iranian govern-ment’s position as “conflicted” and “disingenuous.”
Iran, which the United States says supplies the Taliban with some arms and training, acknowledged this week that it has been giving Karzai cash funds for several years over and above the formal Iranian aid program.
Petraeus said Iran and the United States have a common interest in a stable Afghanistan. He said the Shiite theocracy in Iran also opposes the extreme Sunni leadership in Al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
Iran, he said, is as fearful as the United States that Afghanistan might once again become “a sanctuary for transnational terrorists.”
Petraeus said the financial aid Afghanistan has been getting from Iran is small compared with what it has received from the United States and its allies.