If you’re a top Afghan official money comes awfully easy. For Afghan President Hamid Karzai, you don’t even have to ask for it or leave your office, and people will show up with plastic shopping bags full of cash for you.
The “sacks of cash” phenomenon was unveiled in 2010, when officials revealed that Iran was showing up with $1 million in cash a few times a year for Karzai. The US was and is doing it too. The CIA has notoriously been showing up all the time with “ghost money” aimed at buying influence.
“It came in secret, and it left in secret,” noted Karzai’s former chief of staff. Over a decade later, the cash is still coming and going, but what influence if any was ever actually bought is unclear at best.
Officials are critical of the policy, saying that tens of millions of US dollars with no paperwork were actually a big part of how Afghanistan became one of the most corrupt nations in human history. Though there is of course no way of tracking all this money, US officials believe that large amounts were used to bribe politicians and warlords.
This is how all political business gets done in Afghanistan to this day, and despite officials insisting that the money is incredibly counterproductive, the CIA bags are still showing up regularly.
Who would have thought- money for nothing corrupts? Obviously not our ivy league graduated CIA and DHS and DC geniuses. Seriously, everything the US does in terms of foreign policy is feces. Not to mention that the US is broke and that reckless printing of cash and handing it to Afghan warlords and Wall Street mobsters isn't helping the economy a bit. But who cares, right? As long as some warlord hands over some guy he doesn't like so that the Americans can indefinitely torture him, that's all that matters.
Of course, you know the Ivy league grads are going to believe in money for nothing. That describes the entire lives of most of that crowd. Oh, I'm sure there's one or two who won the Caddyshack caddy tournament to get in, then work their way through school. But you know almost all the rest have been on the money for nothing tit their entire lives and wouldn't know what it means to work a real job.
So, when you let fear scare you into putting these people in charge, what do you expect?
Well they have to bribe someone.., wouldn't yo think.., ? I am sure they play the both sides here.., one for giving them the Afghani hospitality, (Hamid karzai ) two.., the other one to keep them in Afghanistan after 2014, and for that they point into Iraq situation saying.., look what happens when you (USA and EU) destroy a country and then living it to its people to build it up again.., bad Other color people.., they never learn..,, that we (USA and EU) are here to destroy their country to began with.., we never liked them anyway nor our intention is to help any one of them bringing democracy to their country.., what happen then if the become democratic.., they would ask for more independent then.., and then…!
What about all the money the CIA gets from opium production in Afghanistan? Probably more than a few bucks from that in those bags of cash.
Been calling Obama a 'Reagan Democrat' for awhile now. Sounds like he's got the Reagan Iran-Contra scheme running full speed these days. Do something wrong and illegal to get a cash slush fund, then spend that bribing people and keeping wars going.
There are laws against Americans engaging in bribery. Do they not apply to the CIA or are they just not enforced?
Do any laws apply to the CIA? Not for the last ten years, as the judges picked by both parties just make the CIA say "national security" and any case gets thrown out of court. At this point, believing that laws still apply to the CIA is rather naive. Maybe in Italy, but not here.
It has been said that the U.S. is involved in "global drug trafficking." It has also been said that this policy finances the war to some degree. The U.S. needs to stop supporting politicians like Karzai that have no support among the people and are viewed as a Western-bought and installed dictator. The CIA needs to embrace the majority Pashtun ethnic group in Afghanistan as opposed to supporting minority (Tajik) factions ike the Northern Alliance who sold out to the Soviets during the Cold War and are now for sale to the highest bidders from Washington and Tehran. There will not be peace as long as the CIA places all its cards and support against the Pashtuns and joins with the Northern Alliance, the Afghan people will not allow it.
Historically, it has long been the Pashtuns who defended against foreign invaders and occupation.
The US needs to stop supporting politicians like Obama, Dubya, Cheney, McCain, Romney and most of the Congress that in turns is willing to support people like Karsai.
To really change the policy, we the people need to go to the source. The sad thing is that the politicians who support this policy of gladly handing over money like this got about 97% of the vote in the last election, and the ones that would not do this got maybe 3% between them all.
Of course, you won't hear about this during an election because the candidates who would talk about it are barred from debates and from tv, and since the 'major' candidates all agree that this is a fantastic idea, they don't bring it up. That just means the voters have to look a little deeper
well i just have to work a little harder so Obama can flush more of my tax dollars down Karzai sh*t house.
It is a real military strategy, coined by former Gen. Petraeus as money as a weapon system.