World | Afghanistan Iran Slips Karzai Scads of Cash Tehran's influence in Afghanistan is growing By Polly Davis Doig Posted Oct 24, 2010 7:06 AM CDT Copied Afghan President Hamid Karzai talks to Afghans in Argandab district of Kandahar province, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Saturday, Oct. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan) Afghanistan, never a bastion for the honest or politically uncorrupted, is taking hefty bribes from a new source: Iran. As the New York Times reports, Tehran secretly and continuously slides a key aide to Hamid Karzai literal bags of cash that amount to a multi-million-dollar "presidential slush fund" aimed at keeping Iran's interests close to his heart—and not incidentally, creating a rift between Karzai and the US. Iran's influence within Afghanistan is growing, notes the Times. A NATO official says that Tehran is also working to gain influence and unravel the Americans by financing everyone from the Taliban to parliamentary candidates, but the Iranian infiltration goes deeper: “I am very concerned that they have a lethal capability and presence inside Afghanistan and Kabul,” he says. Still, “We have no choice but to be friendly with Iran,” says one Afghan official. “It’s a hostile neighborhood.” Read These Next In the early morning hours in East Hollywood, chaos. CEO resigns after appearance on Kiss Cam. ICE pulls crew members off Great Lakes cruise ships. This is why you don't wear metal in MRI rooms. Report an error