Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll (Taliban, illegal)

[oz in SC]

And he is also suspected of being heavily involved in the opium trade...

Freedom and democracy anyone?

KABUL, Afghanistan — Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a suspected player in the country’s booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the Central Intelligence Agency, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former American officials.
The agency pays Mr. Karzai for a variety of services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the C.I.A.’s direction in and around the southern city of Kandahar, Mr. Karzai’s home.
The financial ties and close working relationship between the intelligence agency and Mr. Karzai raise significant questions about America’s war strategy, which is currently under review at the White House.
The ties to Mr. Karzai have created deep divisions within the Obama administration. The critics say the ties complicate America’s increasingly tense relationship with President Hamid Karzai, who has struggled to build sustained popularity among Afghans and has long been portrayed by the Taliban as an American puppet. The C.I.A.’s practices also suggest that the United States is not doing everything in its power to stamp out the lucrative Afghan drug trade, a major source of revenue for the Taliban.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/wo...ntel.html?_r=2

[Boompa]

Gee I've been saying that for years, he is the biggest opium dealer in the world. Our Afghan Army is the former "Northern Alliance" a Tadjik Drug Cartel as bloody as any in Mexico or Colombia. They don't even speak the language. Wonder why the people back Taliban

[craigm1841]

if he is, you wouldnt know. end of discussion.

[Hombre57]

Boy that darned CIA, they're like an octopus, they have their arms/tentacles on everything.

Afghanistan, the CIA, bin Laden, and the Taliban

[AeroGuyDC]

I would say "formerly on the CIA payroll" now that someone thought it beneficial to tell the press about it. This is likely erroneous reporting by some enterprising young journalist who think's he/she cracked a major code. Either that, or he's no longer associated with the CIA. The CIA doesn't just divulge random information. Compartmentalization runs very deep around there.