CIA pays many in Karzai administration: report

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CIA pays many in Karzai administration: report

Friday, 27 Aug, 2010

Obama pressured Karzai earlier this year to do more to root out corruption, which Washington says complicates efforts to win over the population to the effort by foreign and Afghan forces to fight a widening insurgency. –Photo by Reuters World

WASHINGTON: The CIA is making payments to a significant number of officials in Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
Citing current and former US officials, the paper said the payments were long-standing in many cases and intended to help the agency maintain a source of information within the Afghan government.

Some Karzai aides were CIA informants and others received payments to ensure their accessibility, the Post said, citing a US official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The CIA payments have continued despite concerns that the agency is backing corrupt officials, the report said.

The Post said CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano disputed the the official’s characterization, saying, “This anonymous source appears driven by ignorance, malice or both.”

Corruption and governance in Afghanistan are being scrutinized in Washington as US President Barack Obama plans a strategy review in December, a month after mid-term Congressional elections will be held and amid sagging support for the war.

The Washington Post also cited a former CIA official as saying that the CIA payments to Afghan officials were necessary because “the head of state is not going to tell you everything” and because Karzai often seems unaware of moves that members of his own government make.

Obama pressured Karzai earlier this year to do more to root out corruption, which Washington says complicates efforts to win over the population to the effort by foreign and Afghan forces to fight a widening insurgency.

In addition to cleaning up Afghan governance, Obama’s war strategy hinges on building up the country’s army and police forces to take over security responsibility.

The New York Times reported on Thursday that one of Karzai’s key national security advisors who is under investigation for allegedly soliciting bribes was on the CIA payroll.

Karzai’s half-brother, Ahmad Wali Karzai, a businessman and political power broker in Kandahar has been widely accused of amassing a vast fortune from the drug trade, intimidating rivals and having links to the CIA, charges he strongly denies. —Reuters

DAWN.COM | World | CIA pays many in Karzai administration: report

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CIA making secret payments to Karzai admin members

* Washington Post says payments long-standing in many cases, designed to help agency maintain allies roster within presidential palace

LAHORE: The CIA is making secret payments to multiple members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration, in part to maintain sources of information in a government in which the Afghan leader is often seen as having a limited grasp of developments, according to current and former US officials, as quoted by the Washington Post.

The payments are long-standing in many cases and designed to help the agency maintain a deep roster of allies within the presidential palace. Some aides function as CIA informants, but others collect stipends under more informal arrangements meant to ensure their accessibility, a US official said. The CIA has continued the payments despite concerns that it is backing corrupt officials and undermining efforts to wean Afghans’ dependence on secret sources of income and graft. The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said a significant number of officials in Karzai’s administration are on the payroll. Paul Gimigliano, a CIA spokesman, disputed that characterisation, saying, “This anonymous source appears driven by ignorance, malice or both”. A former agency official said the payments were necessary because “the head of state is not going to tell you everything” and because Karzai often seems unaware of moves that members of his own government make.

The disclosure comes as a corruption investigation into one of Karzai’s senior national security advisers - and an alleged agency informant - puts new strain on the already fraying relationship between Washington and Kabul. Top American officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator John Kerry, have expressed concern about Karzai’s efforts to rein in anti-corruption teams, as well as intervention in the case against the security adviser. The aide, Muhammad Salehi, is accused of accepting a $10,000 car as bribe in exchange for his assistance in quashing a wide-ranging corruption probe.

The issue carries enormous stakes for the Obama administration. Concerns that the Afghan government is hopelessly corrupt have prompted a congressional panel to withhold billions of dollars in aid, and threaten to erode American support for the war.

But Karzai supporters accuse their US counterparts of exploiting the issue, and the Salehi arrest in particular, to humiliate the Afghan leader while ignoring more pressing priorities. In the latest sign of his vexation, Karzai said on Thursday that President Obama’s timeline for withdrawing US troops “has given courage to the enemies of Afghanistan,” and complained that the US wasn’t doing enough to force Pakistan to stop supporting the Taliban. “We haven’t progressed in the war against terrorism,” Karzai said in a statement.

The CIA has maintained relationships with Afghan government officials for years. But the disclosure that multiple members of Karzai’s government are on the CIA’s payroll underscores the complex nature of the American role in Afghanistan. Even as agency dollars flow in, US-backed investigative units are targeting prominent Afghans in the government and trying to stem an exodus of more than $1 billion in cash annually from the country.

Gimigliano, the CIA spokesman, declined to comment on the agency’s financial ties to Afghan officials. “This agency plays an essential role in promoting American goals in Afghanistan, including security and stability,” he said. “Speculation about who may help us achieve that is both dangerous and counterproductive”. The agency’s approach has drawn criticism from others in the US government, who accuse the CIA of contributing to an atmosphere in which Afghans are conditioned to extend their hands for secret payments in almost every transaction. “They’ll pay whoever they think can help them,” the US official said. “That has been the CIA attitude since 2001”. The CIA bankrolled Afghanistan’s intelligence service, and its financial ties to government officials has proliferated in recent years. “There are probably not too many officials we haven’t met and contacted and paid,” a former CIA official said. The CIA has a long-standing relationship - though not a financial one - with Karzai himself.

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