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A top U.S. commander in embattled southern Afghanistan said he has not seen any evidence that Iran is providing training or weapons to Taliban fighters, contradicting claims by the Bush administration of Iranian interference in Afghanistan.

"I haven't seen any Iranian weapons or anything of that nature making its way here," said Army Col. Thomas McGrath, who directs the American-led training and equipping of the Afghan army and police in southern Afghanistan, speaking to reporters by phone on Tuesday. "I know we have issues with [the Iranians] in Iraq, but I haven't really seen any of that here."

In a Wall Street Journal story this week, an unidentified senior military official said Iran was training members of the Taliban and providing them with armor-piercing roadside bombs. At a news conference in Paris on Tuesday, Richard Boucher, assistant secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, said, "Iran is interfering in a variety of ways [in Afghanistan]. There have been several shipments of weapons."

According to intelligence reports from the battlefield, McGrath said, there were no indications of Iranian support to the Taliban in southern Afghanistan. "I haven't seen any incidents of [Iranian made roadside bombs] in the region. I have no reason to believe they're here," he said.

There was no discernible Taliban "spring offensive" this year, McGrath said, adding that the insurgents appeared to be "stuck in a rut," with low morale and a noticeable decline in their fighting abilities. "If the [Iranians] are training them, they're not doing very well," he said.

Some 34,000 U.S. troops are in Afghanistan, with the recent addition of 3,500 Marines in the Kandahar region, the highest level since the war began in 2001. McGrath said the Marines have moved into Taliban-infested areas to bolster and train the Afghan police forces.

COMMENTS

• I tend to trust Col. McGrath. Clearly, he's not currying political favor, and the tone rings right for me. It also makes historical and political sense. The Iranians don't trust the drug lords who now call themselves Taliban any more than we do. They're not going to disown them (bad politics), but they aren't going to help them get a lot stronger, either. This is not Iraq. Control of the Shatt Al-Arab and the oil terminals are not at stake. We should not uncritically accept the words of Administration spokespeople who try to paint Iran with a single black brush. Bob S Posted May 8, 2008 4:33 PM
• Note that the COL refers to South Afghanistan. In a Nov 2007 one-on-one (televised) interview with Bill O'Reilly, the overall on-the-ground U.S. Commander in Afghanistan (I recollect GEN Dan McNeill) stated that they have interdicted transport of Iranian weapons into Afghanistan. Hmm Posted May 8, 2008 1:36 PM
• Skeeter, that all you have to say? How do you reconcile your support of both the current administration and the military in this instance? Wait a while and there'll be more news at 11. Perhaps this time the spinmeisters will have coordinated their story with all the players. Tip off Posted May 8, 2008 12:50 PM