TEHRAN The United States is seeking control of Afghanistan and the containment of Iran and of Pakistan's nuclear program, Saudi Arabia's former ambassador in Kabul charged in comments published Saturday.

Osama bin Laden "is only a card in the game played by the United States and of which it has convinced the world to justify intervention in Afghanistan," Mohammad al-Oteibi told *** Al-Hayat *** in a rebuke of U.S. foreign policy.

"If the United States had wanted to arrest Bin Laden, they could have done so easily without taking the trouble to launch this fanciful war ... they could have caught him long ago," AFP cited the daily.

The war on terror in response to the September 11 suicide attacks in the United States was intended "to impose (American) hegemony on the country (Afghanistan) and to set (Americans) up there to achieve their objectives in Asia," the former envoy said.

These objectives included containing "The threat of the Pakistan nuclear program and Iran," as well as "The exploitation of the riches of Afghanistan and the republics of Central Asia," Oteibi told the London-based Saudi-owned newspaper.

He added that Riyadh was not to blame for the rise of the Taleban regime, which Saudi Arabia, nonetheless, bankrolled.

"The appearance of the Taleban was the work of Pakistan and the United States," Said Oteibi, who was in Kabul during the 1990s.

Both countries sought to use the Taleban, ousted in November, against Iran, the ex-ambassador said.

"Through their erroneous interpretation of Islam, the Taleban achieved the objectives of the United States and the West ... and gave the enemies of Islam the opportunity to work against this religion and accuse it of terrorism," Oteibi added.

The interview coincided with a visit to Saudi Arabia by Hamid Karzai, head of the interim government of Afghanistan on his first trip abroad.

In a related analysis, AFP reported yesterday that U.S. forces were settling in Central Asian countries to maintain a presence in the region.

But how long will that presence continue, asked the report.

This new presence in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, which has Russia worried, comes in addition to bases in Pakistan as hundreds of U.S. military advisers are headed for the Philippines.

Noting these stepped-up deployments of U.S. forces, which are already present on five continents and patrol all the oceans, the U.S. newspaper *** Christian Science Monitor *** wrote: "A reluctant empire stretches more."

Soon after launching its operation in Afghanistan with Moscow's support, the United States has deployed 1,500 servicemen in Khanabad, Uzbekistan.

Together with its Western allies, including France, Washington has begun expanding Manas Air Base in Kyrgyzstan, which is expected to be able to house 3,000 troops.

According to General Tommy Franks, the military officer in charge of operation enduring freedom, Manas could become a transit point for planes headed for Afghanistan.

Manas could allow U.S. planes to conduct raids without using the airspace of Pakistan, which is negotiating U.S. withdrawal from two out of four air bases on its soil due of tensions with India.

In addition to its strong presence in the Middle East, particularly in Saudi Arabia since the Persian Gulf War, Washington has deployed more than 60,000 troops in the region in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

Franks has also obtained, at least until March, two aircraft carriers, instead of one, stationed in the Arabian Sea, accompanied by the support groups, which carry thousands of marines on board.

In Afghanistan, the Pentagon now has nearly 4,000 soldiers stationed at Kandahar in the south and Bagram in the north.

In addition to these forces, a significant number of U.S. special forces and CIA teams are operating in the country, according to Colonel Bill Taylor.