Official: US Paying Taliban to Reduce Afghan Attacks

Near Term Drop in Attacks Means Huge Influx of Cash to Taliban

According to a well-placed but unnamed Afghan official, the United States military and other NATO allies are directly bribing Afghan warlords and even some top members of the Taliban to reduce attacks on their supply convoys and generally reduce the level of violence overall.

The move comes even as violence continues to spiral across the nation, but officials apparently believe that the situation, which they term as “progress,” would be far worse without the overt bribery of the insurgents.

The official also claims that troops from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Britain have also agreed to “local peace deals” with the Taliban in their own spheres of influence, all of which are believed to include significant cash payments.

Which is a major concern for locals even as officials insist the Taliban is “weakening” because of US targeting of its foreign funding. It also adds to concerns that much of the Taliban’s funding, 10 years into the US-led occupation, is coming directly or indirectly from the US forces themselves.

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.