Pentagon Discuses Iranian Rockets, Explosives Found in Afghanistan

News in Balance:

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10, 2009 -- Iranian-made explosives and rockets were among a cache of weapons uncovered in Afghanistan last month, a Pentagon spokesman said today.

The stockpile, which Afghan National Security Forces seized Aug. 29 in the western city of Herat, consisted of Iranian rockets, improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, and other bomb-making materials, Bryan Whitman told Pentagon reporters today. Afghan forces also arrested two people affiliated with the weapons, he said.

“Iran continues to play a destabilizing role in the region,” Whitman said.

The discovery of the IEDs -- the biggest single cause of American casualties in Afghanistan -- and other weapons marks the first discovery of such Iranian-manufactured weapons in the country in about two years, Whitman said. Troops last uncovered Iranian explosives in Farah province in October 2007.

Whitman acknowledged the difficulty in determining when the weapons arrived and said the most recent discovery does not constitute a trend.

(Report by John J. Kruzel, American Forces Press Service.)

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