Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll

Source: New York Times

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.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/28/world/asia/28intel.html?hp

Just on Rachel Maddow

tax dollars supporting brother's habit?

I'm sure there will be plenty of questions at the Press Conference with Gibbs

or the other misery that our Cable News uses to distract us. After all...not all Americans get NYT. But many have Cable.

She's got a great group of researchers and no doubt will have appropriate guests to shed light on this tomorrow.

THE THREE HAVE STOLEN OUR DEMOCRACY.

THE SIDESHOW IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY TO KEEP US OCCUPIED.

get our troops out of there RIGHT NOW. No one will be surprised by this, I'm sure.

I wonder if President Obama plans to follow the footsteps of his predecessors, by not reigning in the rogue CIA, or actually using them to his own ends to enrich those who will in turn enrich him.

I expect he is a good human being, but sometimes they can get you - it's like the one ring. Of course, if you mess with the bull you get the horns - they will grant you freedom from this prison of flesh. It's got to suck to be pres and be a human being that respects life. I sure don't envy him.

Supported by non other than Joementum Limpmann, Shakey McLame and Racist Lindsay Graham.

It will be touted as the "New Jobs Program" in the war on terra.

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.
And the C.I.A..

willing to "work with" the Taliban if it gave up terrorism because we're there to fight Al Queda.


Nothing was said about it giving up the drug trade or giving up abusing women (apparently that doesn't meet the U.S. definition of terrorism).

How the US sent $12bn in cash to Iraq. And watched it vanish, 8 February 2007




Brother of Afghan Leader Is Said to Be on C.I.A. Payroll

By DEXTER FILKINS, MARK MAZZETTI and JAMES RISEN
October 28, 2009






Gonna be some blowback from this revelation.

US citizens are forbidden by federal law from doing all kinds of things, as are US intelligence agency personnel, with heavy border restrictions.

Thus, illegal spying, assassinations, drugging, wiretapping, prostitution schemes, extortion, (etc. etc.) is contracted out.

...i was amazed that anyone finds any of this surprising at all.

in fact, if the entire afghan government isn't on the payroll, i'm going to be a bit disappointed.

Smashing mercury with a hammer does not eliminate the substance.

The fellah always seems to answer the call when his party -- the War Party -- needs him.

Details:

America's secret power: the CIA in a democratic society By Loch K. Johnson

Looks like a good book, though, if a bit over-focused on Bush and Bush II. What about under Clinton? (I haven't read the whole book yet.)

we need more troops to make sure the drug trade is not interrupted - CIA must keep feeding America's drug habit

Sheesh...a Criminal Enterprise!

This is going to be very interesting.

:popcorn:

just how much does the CIA depend on the illicit drug trade, particularly in this area? If you have been following Sibel Edmonds' allegations, you might be aware that certain congresspeople (including Hastert) participated in this as well. The problem may be much larger than we realize. How willing are our leaders to look into this?

by Alexander Cockburn and Jeffrey St. Clair from Counterpunch fame.
Pretty much lays out how it is done from one war to another.... and in between, for that matter.

We should reconsider our presence there.

Nice to see they're still in the game.

:sarcasm:

very much- if true- with our mission there.

any form of Counterinsurgency required good government. This leads to concluding their entire government is a sham. This makes the Afghans even less likely to see them as legitimate.

As to whether or not it is true, either way, there will be people who believe it.

Who knows, maybe Kerry and Karzai discussed this. Maybe Karzai knew or suspected his brothers involvement with the CIA. Eight years is a long term relationship, others had to be aware of it.

actually, I take that back: not geniunely 'sorry'.

Isn't it possible the administration is working to have President Karzai remove his brother from power? Or is it possible that other planted this story now to make sure it has an impact on the upcoming elections?

The CIA sure likes them some drug lords.

Too bad Gary Webb is dead and can no longer draw lines between the dots.

Which is good, since it is hard to buy and very over priced.

Web of Deceit, it is called.

This information is chump change compared to the fact that the CIA deliberately and intentionally allowed the al Qaeda terrorists to carry out the attacks on 9/11 to hide their culpability in the attack on the USS Cole, and then lied to Congress and the Joint Inquiry Committee about their role in allowing these attacks to take place.

There is now even iron clad proof of the CIA culpability in allowing these attacks on 9/11 to take place, that comes right from official US government documents.

This information is so wildly known in Washington DC that it now has to be all but an open secret in both the US Congress and in fact in all of Washington DC.

See my Journal for additional details on this plus the actual documents that prove this.

K&R

.

in the world...supporting any thugs in the world for massive profits as well as to to fund & force republican right-wing imperialistic corporate fascist ideology around the globe. We as Americans and as workers are the losers. Who's surprised?

The titular head of the country apparently has no authority outside of Kabul and Kandahar, if even that. The rest of the country is a patchwork of alliances. Poppy seems to be the basic coin in the region, and a primary source of income for many Afghan farmers outside of the cities.

That the President's brother may be involved in the opium trade doesn't seem surprising, given the money to be made. Yet, we fund the Karzai government, financially and militarily. Prop him up to promote some semblance of a national government.

Yet there remains no national infrastructure, women remain second class citizens in some areas, kids don't go to school, and the country isn't safe for it's own citizens it seems.

I know our role in Afghanistan is being debated in Washington, as it ought to be. And, I assume in Kabul, Kandahar and the country, as well.

Yet what will constitute success seems elusive, at best. And it's worth noting that what constitutes success for us may not be the same for the Afghans.

and get rid of the little bastid.

Will Obama crack down on this or will it be more of the same? Time to bring our troops home-NOW!

Thanks for the heads-up!

Probably running it through Turkey with the help of lots of unsavory characters and the Turkish criminal deep state.
See Sibel Edmunds.

you will wonder no longer the who and the why's..of who is running our government , and why they "let" one person into our white house over another..they "let" us think we are electing people..

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to make it seem like the 99% they bury are not credible stories.

Not like they're sitting on classified information or anything either. Just not bothering to report.

same as the Old Boss...

And that shithead from Arizona, Sen. McLame states the 'we must prevail...' in Viet-ghanistan...Uhhh, in what regard Senator...to keep the price of Skag down...to keep a puppet onstage...to be as insipidly, embarrassingly hypocritical about the whole fucking war 'thingy', to kick start Iran-Contra...???

i swear...maybe their really IS a historical "pendulum"...that just sways to and fro...reminding us of just how stupid we really are. Hell, in 'Nam, at least you got some sort of DEROS date...now...no one, and I mean NO ONE knows what the fuck 'time' it is!!

any news agency that has AMERICA'S BEST INTEREST @ HEART, will cover this 24/7 until we stop feeding a Heroin King Pin, with US TAXPAYERS $$$$$$$

Whatever Happened to Richard Helms’ Niece?
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/5295

This makes Alfred McCoy's The Politics of Heroin: CIA complicity in the global drug trade
all the more relevent. What has the CIA gotten right lately ?