Karzai calls Iran a 'very close friend' He makes the remark after a visit by Gates

Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times
President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan gave Iran his full embrace yesterday, saying it has been his country's "very close friend," even as US officials meeting with him here repeated their accusation that Iranian-made weapons were flowing to Taliban fighters (...) When asked whether he believed Tehran, which has been mostly a benign presence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban, had decided to change course and support its former foes, Karzai gave an impassioned backing for the Iranian government. He called it a force for good inside Afghanistan. "Iran and Afghanistan have never been as friendly as they are today," Karzai said. "In the past five years, Iran has been contributing to Afghanistan's reconstruction, and in the past five years, Afghanistan has been Iran's very close friend."...
continua / continued