Everybody noticed the markedly different remarks about Iran by President Bush and Afghan President Karzai. Our Afghan ally praised the mullahs for helping the fight against terrorism, while W had his usual harsh words for Tehran. Oddly, hardly any of those commenting seemed to have noticed the evidence of Iranian support for the Taliban, as presented by the Afghans themselves, and echoed by our own military command on the ground. UPI reported it quite simply:

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 5 (UPI) — Iranian armor-piercing bombs used with deadly effect in Iraq now are being smuggled into Afghanistan for use by the Taliban, it was reported Sunday. “It is clear to everyone that Iran is supporting the enemy of Afghanistan, the Taliban,” Col. Rahmatullah Safi, the head of border police for western Afghanistan, told The Sunday Times of London. A Baluch tribesman in southern Afghanistan is believed to be the middle man between Iran and the Taliban, Afghan intelligence sources told The Times. The middle man also uses Iran as the central point for heroin smuggled out of Afghanistan to Europe, the report said. Col. Thomas Kelly, a U.S. Army commander with NATO, said the armor-piercing weapons crossing the border appear factory made. “These are very sophisticated (improvised explosive devices) and they’re really not manufactured in any other place to our knowledge than Iran,” Kelly said.

For those interested in historical continuity, our current UN Ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, as much as accused the Iranians of just such meddling way back in January, 2002, when he discussed the evidence that Tehran was “sending pro-Iranian Afghan fighters and money into Afghanistan.” He said “it was a fair assumption.”

One of the reasons this ongoing Iranian campaign in support of the Taliban is so often ignored is the conventional wisdom that Shi’ites in Tehran couldn’t possibly be supporting Sunnis in Afghanistan, since the two are separated by a strong wall of religious division.

But the Iranians do it anyway. And we do nothing but complain to the Iranians and beg the UN to get tougher with sanctions. Which is why Karzai, who shares a border with the mullahs, isn’t taking them on in public.