The discovery of Iranian-made weaponry in Afghanistan has led US and British officials to accuse Iran of arming the Taliban militias now battling US and coalition forces. The find raises new and troubling questions about the state of American-Iranian relations.

CNN reported that the weapons, which were seized by coalition forces as they were smuggled across the Iranian-Afghan border, include types that have been used effectively against US troops in Iraq.

Coalition officials in Afghanistan said they have intercepted Iranian-made AK-47s, C-4 plastic explosives and mortars. One explosively-formed penetrator bomb (EFP) that was found can pierce American armor, a NATO official said.

The EFP is similar to the weaponry the United States says Iran has provided to militants in Iraq, but the NATO official said the weapon has not been traced directly to the Iranian regime.

Iranian officials have denied the allegations, while outside experts speculate that Iranian splinter groups are more likely candidates than the Iranian government. Dealing arms to the Taliban would be a step outside the norm for Iran. In 1998, Iran nearly went to war with Afghanistan, then controlled by the Taliban regime, after it killed eight Iranian diplomats and a journalist. Additionally, the Taliban, a Sunni organization, has traditionally avoided dealing with Shiites. Iran is a predominately Shiite nation and seeks support mostly from other Shiites. [Editor's note: The original version misidentified the sect from which Iran seeks support.]

Since America's 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Iran has played an active role in thwarting the Taliban, reportsMcClatchy.

U.S. officials and independent experts don't think that Iran wants the Taliban returned to power.

Iran quietly supported the U.S.-led ouster of the Taliban in 2001, has poured some $200 million into reconstruction projects in Afghanistan and is profiting from brisk cross-border commerce. It also has been cooperating closely in other areas, including fighting trafficking in Afghanistan's record-high opium production.

Still, some experts believe that the Iranian government may be officially sanctioning the sale of weapons to the Taliban as a means of indirectly battling the US. "Iran's apparent shift in Afghanistan is part of a wider response by hard-liners, led by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to what they consider U.S. efforts to destabilize the Islamic Republic," reports McClatchy.

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