With Bags of Cash, C.I.A. Seeks Influence in Afghanistan -- New York Times
KABUL, Afghanistan — For more than a decade, wads of American dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan’s president — courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency.
All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the C.I.A. to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader.
“We called it ‘ghost money,’ ” said Khalil Roman, who served as Mr. Karzai’s chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. “It came in secret, and it left in secret.”
The C.I.A., which declined to comment for this article, has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr. Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing.
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My Comment: I get sick when I read stories like this one. No accountability. No planning on what to do with this money. No explanation. No objections. no responsibility. The best sentence in this report that summarizes everything perfectly is the following ....
.... “The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan,” one American official said, “was the United States.”
This is where Congress should step-up be provide the necessary oversight .... but I suspect that since this operation occurred under both a Republican and Democrat administration .... oversight be damned.
Update: Wikileaks disclosed some of this corruption 2 years ago. The UN disclosed even more on Afghan corruption earlier this year.