Karzai happily accepts cash from Iran

By Dale McFeatters

Hamid Karzai fancies himself a patriot. Maybe he is, but as the Afghan president added in a press conference noteworthy for its bald-faced candor, "Patriotism has its price."

In Karzai's case, that price comes to $700,000 to $975,000 once or twice a year, payable in bags of euros, from Iran. Last month, the New York Times had a story about Iran's efforts to buy influence in Kabul, including an eyewitness account of the Iranian ambassador handing Karzai's chief of staff, Umar Daudzai, a large plastic bag of cash.

In Karzai's case, that price comes to money from Iran, payable in bags of euros worth $700,000 to $975,000 once or twice a year.

Nobody seemed at all surprised by this revelation and Karzai held a press conference in which he came close to boasting about the bribes. "They do give us bags of money ― yes, yes, it's done," he said.

But it's OK, he said, because the transactions were transparent: "There was nothing to hide." Moreover, Karzai said, "We are grateful for this."

Iran only wants "good relations" in return, he said, noting that it was a two-way relationship and would continue. "We have asked a lot of things in return in this relationship, so it's a relationship between neighbors and it will go on and we'll continue to ask for cash help from Iran," he said.

Karzai's final justification was that taking the money had to be OK because the U.S. does it, too: "The U.S. is doing the same thing, providing the cash to some of our offices."

He has some justification for the everybody-does-it defense. The U.S. has been forced to turn a blind eye to blatant corruption by Karzai's inner circle, including his brother, in order to keep our uncertain ally in line. And U.S. commanders have cash to fund small development projects but also to pay off influential locals.

Rather regrettably for neighborly relations, shortly before the president's tell-all press conference the Iranian embassy in Kabul dismissed the story about bags of cash as "ridiculous and insulting" and Iranian radio had denounced the allegations as false. Awkward.

Karzai is currently giving the U.S. and its Western allies a hard time over his order that foreign security contractors be out of Afghanistan by Dec. 17, a withdrawal that would lead many aid and development organizations to pull out as well. Karzai is said to have stormed out of a heated session with U.S. commander Gen David Petraeus, who called to protest the order.

The Iranians' interest in all this is simple. They help fund the Taliban because they want to see the U.S. out of Afghanistan. By paying off Karzai, they will have friends in high places no matter which side wins.

But if the U.S. pulls out, Karzai may find out how high the price of patriotism really is.

Dale McFeatters is an editorial writer of Scripps Howard News Service (www.scrippsnews.com).