Iran on Tuesday confirmed having provided financial assistance to Afghanistan but said it was solely for the development and reconstruction of the war-torn country, DPA reported.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted Monday that his office regularly received cash payments from Iran to pay for his "special expenses" and presidential "donations" but insisted it was though official channels.
In Tehran on Tuesday, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran was helping Afghanistan with infrastructure projects to help its reconstruction and eventually also remove a reason given for the ongoing foreign military presence in the country.
Assistance to neighbouring Afghanistan "has been done not only by this but also the previous government and will continue to do so in the future," Mehmanparast said.
Karzai told reporters Monday that Iran had been sending his government "5 or 6 or 7 hundreds of thousands of euros once or twice every year" but that the payments were above board.
He was responding to an article in The New York Times accusing Tehran of making secret payments to promote its interests in Afghanistan.