War neighbor gets warning: Don't meddle

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United States raised the specter of renewed foreign meddling in Afghanistan on Friday and said Iran may be sending pro-Iranian Afghan fighters to destabilize the newly installed U.S.-backed government.

U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad stopped short of directly accusing Iran of interference but cited unspecified reports that Afghan fighters and money were being sent from Iran to build opposition to Prime Minister Hamid Karzai.

"All of those things would be regarded as interference," Khalilzad said.

Earlier this month, President Bush warned Iran against harboring al-Qaida fighters and trying to destabilize Afghanistan's new government.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman rejected Bush's remarks as baseless.

Army Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan, echoed Khalilzad's comments during a briefing at U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa.

"There has been a perception among several of the leaders inside Afghanistan that Iran has in some cases not been terribly helpful," Franks told reporters.

Franks said U.S. forces continued working against pockets of Taliban and al-Qaida resistance, about 10 of them at any given time.

"We have found tanks, we have found armored personnel carriers. We have found thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition.

"We have found artillery ammunition, we have found mortar ammunition, we have found small arms, we have found rocket-propelled grenades, and we have found ... filing cabinets full of documentary evidence," he said.

In other developments:

Franks said there has been no decision to station protective fighter aircraft at MacDill Air Force Base.

The local air base and the Tampa Bay area "are precious assets," he said, "but we have a lot of precious assets in this country."

Decisions on aircraft placement are not made by Central Command, he said, "and I'm comfortable with the review process."

Commenting on reports that Saudi Arabia is cooling to having U.S. forces based in that country, Franks said he had traveled to Saudi Arabia frequently and knew many people there, but had not heard any complaints from anyone in Saudia Arabia "suggesting we (U.S. troops) are not welcome."

The World Food Program announced it had begun delivering food by donkey to remote mountain regions of northern Afghanistan, where bad roads and snow have isolated thousands of people.

-- Times staff writer David Ballingrud contributed to this report.

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