Gen. David Petraeus, the boss of U.S. Central Command, thinks the United States and its allies can find common ground with Iran to keep Afghanistan from imploding.

In an address today at the U.S. Institute of Peace, Petraeus said the United States and Iran have "common objectives" in Afghanistan. Voice of America quotes Petraeus as saying: "Clearly, there are some common objectives that no one, I think, would disagree on, that Iran is concerned about the narcotics trade, it doesn't want to see Sunni extremists, certainly ultra, ultra fundamentalist extremists running Afghanistan again any more than other folks do."

But, Petraeus added: "I'm sure there is an element that is determining how they can make life miserable for the coalition, the alliance, and Afghan forces as well."

Iran and the Taliban came close to war in 1998 after the deaths of 9 Iranian diplomats in Taliban-held Mazar-e-Sharif;

Tehran also provided assistance to Afghan commanders who resisted

Taliban rule. But as Petraeus mentioned, one of Iran's biggest concerns is Afghanistan's burgeoning narcotics trade: the country has one of the highest rates of opium and heroin addiction in the world.

According to VOA, Petraeus also noted "common interests" between

Iran and Iraq. That's an interesting point: As the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Petraeus pointed the finger at Iran for lethal meddling in

Iraq. In Senate testimony last spring, for instance, he blamed a recent series of rocket and mortar attacks against the Green Zone on

Iranian-backed "special groups," which he said were trained, armed and directed by the Quds Force of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards

Corps.

[PHOTO: U.S. Department of Defense]

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