Following up on yesterday’s reports of the CIA’s decade-long project of showing up at Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s office every once in awhile with the big sack of money, Karzai has confirmed the practice and provided more details.
Karzai dubbed the money “multipurpose assistance,” adding that it was very useful to just have backpacks and plastic bags full of unassigned cash just lying around the office.
The Afghan president sought to downplay the funding, insisting it was “rather small” in amount, though reports indicate the CIA dropped off tens of millions of dollars over the years. Karzai says the money was used for paying rent and “other objectives.”
Former Afghan officials and current US officials were critical of the practice, since there was zero oversight of where the money went. They also say the practice of having Karzai’s office hand over cash to “facilitate” operations was a big part of enforcing the bribery culture that has become the normal way of doing business across Afghanistan.
Though there is Congressional oversight for the formal CIA aid provided to Afghan spy agencies experts say that the “sacks of cash” neither violates any US laws nor does it oblige the CIA to report anything about who they gave the sacks to, how much cash was in them, or what the money would be used for.
"the “sacks of cash” neither violates any US laws nor does it oblige the CIA to report anything about who they gave the sacks to, how much cash was in them, or what the money would be used for."
Lovely. So if CIA agents start pocketing some, or a lot, of the cash (after all no ones knows how much there is) that would be just fine. Now, how does one get a job of cash deliverer? And then we wonder when billion$ disappear and are unaccounted for, surprise, surprise.
backpacks full of cash?! well there is a perfectly rational explanation for this.
have you ever tried hiking through the mountains with a briefcase?
Yeah, wouldn't want to give the CIA guys wrist strain from carrying all those briefcases.
To maximize geopolitical power, our Afghan occupation is to facilitate a class war between the upper half and lower half of society, a war that maximizes the consumption of war materials by maximizing violence. So, cash on hand, surely it is the lubricant that gets things done.
Backpacks full of cash abroad and bombs stateside
Hahahaha, the irony! He should have just said "it's for paying rent" and leave it at that.
This sound like money laundrying to me, or is it just drugs money that cant be traced? One name comes to mind, Oliver North. Same senario.
And which reputation suffers? I notice the Stan became 'the most currupt gov't in the world' … There's probably a general pattern to keep an eye on there; what are you really seeing when you see a corrupt-foreign-gov't?
Makes perfect sense the president and the congress get together and officially designate some money specifically for fraud waist abuse kickbacks corruption and bribery of foreign officials and governments. None of this is of course is legal under US law so it must be money that cannot be traced. last thing you would want to do is have someone trace this money or maintain accountability someone could end up in jail.
During the anti-Putin demonstrations in Russia money was no problem for the opposition!
Ksenia Sobchak had a million dollars in her home safe, 100 envelopes , $10,000 each was found during the search of her apartment.
Wonder who was delivering backpacks to Moscow !