Mottaki will be asked to brief MPs about Afghanistan aid’

TEHRAN, Oct. 27 (MNA) – MP Jamshid Ansari said on Tuesday that Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki will be asked to attend the Majlis to answer questions about a rumor that Iran’s ambassador to Kabul had given a “bag of money” to a senior Afghan official.

On Tuesday, Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman said the financial aid to Afghanistan is intended to help reconstruct the neighboring country, adding Iran will continue its assistance to Afghanistan.

Iran’s ambassador to Afghanistan, Fada Hossein Maliki gave Umar Daudzai, Afghan president’s chief of staff, a large plastic bag bulging with packets of euro bills during a trip to Iran last August.

On Monday, President Hamid Karzai dismissed the way the story was covered by the NYT, saying the Iranian money was used to pay expenses in his office and that he had instructed Daudzai to accept the money.

The money is given “to help the presidential office and to help dispense assistance in various ways to the employees here and to people outside,” Karzai said.

He added that the United States, just like Iran, gave him cash.

“They do give us bags of money. Yes, yes they do. It’s all the same. So let’s not make this an issue.”

However, Ansari said the news has fanned the flames of rumors how the money is spent in Afghanistan.

Mottaki should explain about the veracity of the report and also the amount of the money, the MP added.

He also stated that Mottaki should brief lawmakers how the money is spent in Afghanistan.

Although Iran has provided some aid to Afghanistan, the assistance has never been in the form of cash and that Iran has never directly given money to the Afghan president’s chief of staff, the lawmaker noted.

So far, seven parliamentarians from the Majlis minority faction have called for an inquiry in this regard.