Afghanistan’s president openly admitted on Monday that Iran has supplied his office with millions of dollars in cash over the past several years.

President Hamid Karzai’s confirmation came the day after the New York Times reported that Karzai’s Chief of Staff Umar Daudzai receives a secret, steady stream of cash from Iran intended to buy his loyalty and promote Iran’s interests in the presidential palace, according to Afghan and Western officials. “Iran uses its influence to help drive a wedge between the Afghans and their American and nato benefactors, they say” (October 23).

The report said that after Karzai wrapped up his official visit to Iran in August, Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan boarded Karzai’s plane on the airport tarmac in Tehran carrying a large plastic bag full of euro bills. According to eyewitnesses on the plane, the ambassador handed the bag of cash to Karzai’s chief of staff.

“It’s basically a presidential slush fund,” a Western official in Kabul said of the Iranian-supplied money. “Daudzai’s mission is to advance Iranian interests.”

An Afghan official said that millions of dollars from Iran have been used to pay Afghan lawmakers, tribal elders and Taliban commanders.

President Karzai’s response to the story was to confirm the payments, openly admitting that his office gets “bags of money” from Iran—up to nearly a million dollars twice a year. During a news conference on Monday, he said the money was “official aid” and said he would continue to ask for Iranian money.

At the same time, Karzai lashed out at the United States, accusing it of exporting killing to Afghanistan by using private security companies. “In fact we don’t know how many of the explosions are the fault of the Taliban and how much by them,” said Mr. Karzai, referring to the security companies.

A Western official in the Afghan capital responded, “[W]hen you are losing the numbers we are as an alliance and then when you got your reliable partner in Kabul saying such things it sticks in the craw a bit.”

The private security companies are largely being used to protect civilian firms involved in reconstruction efforts in the country. Karzai has demanded that all such security companies cease operations by December 17.

On Sunday evening, Karzai reportedly had a heated session with nato commander Gen. David Petraeus and other Western and Afghan officials, during which he stormed out, saying he didn’t need the West’s help.

Karzai’s open acceptance of what amounts to Iranian bribes and his virulent verbal attacks on his U.S. benefactors speak volumes of the orientation of Afghanistan’s current leader—a supposed ally of America.

Of course, that Karzai is accepting money from Tehran is hardly a surprise. As Time reports, “Karzai, in fact, has never made any secret of his close ties with Tehran. He has repeatedly played host to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an honored guest in Kabul, and made a high-profile visit to the Iranian capital last August to showcase the relationship (and his independence from Washington).”

Really, just like the Taliban, Karzai is preparing for a post-U.S. Afghanistan—one in which accommodation will have to be made with the Taliban, with Pakistan, and with Iran.

Even America openly acknowledges that Iran will play a lead role in a post-nato Afghanistan—as was demonstrated by Washington’s response to Karzai’s admission. “We do not question Iran’s right to provide financial assistance to Afghanistan, nor do we question Afghanistan’s right to accept that assistance,” said U.S. State Department spokesman Phillip Crowley on Monday, adding that Washington did “remain skeptical of Iran’s motives.”

The U.S., in fact, is looking to include Iran in formulating a solution for Afghanistan. Last week, an Iranian representative joined officials from the U.S. and other countries at a security conference on Afghanistan held in Rome. Mohammed Ali Qanezadeh, a high-ranking Iranian diplomat, even attended an in-depth briefing by General Petraeus on nato’s strategy for transition of security responsibilities in Afghanistan, according to the New York Times. This was the first time a representative from Iran had attended a meeting of the international contact group on Afghanistan. When asked about Iranian involvement, U.S. Special Representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Holbrooke acknowledged that Iran, given its shared border with Afghanistan, has a role in the “peaceful settlement of this situation in Afghanistan.” “So for the United States there is no problem with their presence,” he said.

As theTrumpet.com has pointed out before, Iran has a strong presence in Afghanistan—aiding both sides in the conflict in order to enhance its own regional position. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, for example, maintains links with Afghan minorities opposed to the Taliban and also provides support to those fighting U.S. and nato troops. This, of course, is besides the direct support Tehran gives the Karzai government, which has now come to light.

This does indeed give Iran considerable sway in determining the future of Afghanistan. And having Iran on board will make it easier for the U.S. to exit the country. “From the U.S. perspective, a settlement in Afghanistan underwritten by Iran and Pakistan could create the conditions conducive to a Western military withdrawal from the country,” reports Stratfor (October 26). According to Stratfor analysts, the Iranians and Pakistanis will play the lead roles in any settlement in Afghanistan.

There is one country in particular, however, that will be less than welcoming of a more Iranian-oriented Afghanistan. Earlier this year, columnist Ron Fraser outlined how Germany’s perspective on Afghanistan differs from that of the U.S. and how that, strategically, Germany cannot afford to withdraw from the country. In addition to it being part of the Bundeswehr’s quiet engagement in encircling the oil golden triangle in the Middle East, Mr. Fraser wrote, “Germany’s deployment in Afghanistan gives it a prime strategic location from which to press the inevitable attack on the one nation that threatens the overall stability of the Middle East and, through its terror-sponsoring activities, the rest of the world—Iran!” He continued:

Our editor in chief clearly identified the most threatening leading power in the Middle East as Iran even before many secular commentators woke up to that reality. Herbert Armstrong long ago identified Germany as being the nation from which a powerful political leader would arise to put down the nuclear terrorist threat from that southern nation.Each American setback in Afghanistan—and they will continue to be numerous—each German fatality and each move by a turncoat political leader in that extremely unstable country, brings this great clash between a future “king of the north” and a “king of the south” one step closer.

Keep watching as evidence of Iran’s identity as the biblically prophesied “king of the south” continues to emerge—and watch for it to be eventually countered not by America, but by a German-led European force.