Save the Children Denies CIA Links in Pakistan Row

Pakistan Ousted Aid Group's Staff Over Afridi Ties

It is now nearly a year and a half since the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden, but the humanitarian fallout of the CIA’s decision to use a phony vaccination program as a cover to ID him is still being felt, as humanitarian group Save the Children is being forced out of Pakistan.

Save the Children has repeatedly denied having anything to do with the CIA vaccination program, but had ties with Dr. Afridi, who headed the phony program and told several people at the time that the program was being funded by Save the Children, when in reality it was a CIA sting operation. He also told the ISI after his arrest that he was working for Save the Children.

The group’s actual, real aid workers have had to flee Pakistan regularly since the incident, and have seen their vaccination programs ground to a halt as locals fear that any Western run vaccination program is a scam to get CIA spies into a region.

Save the Children was among the biggest aid groups in Pakistan just two years ago, with thousands of employees helping millions of people. The group is now a virtual pariah in Pakistan, with its foreign-born employees being expelled en masse and any hopes that the CIA-created storm would blow over a distant memory.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.