KARZAI'S CIA BUNDLES - The hand that scolds also bribes

http://atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/SOU-02-090513.html



KARZAI'S CIA BUNDLES - The hand that scolds also bribes
By Thalif Deen
May 9, '13


KARZAI'S CIA BUNDLES
The hand that scolds also bribes
By Thalif Deen

NEW YORK - When a Southeast Asian country was riddled with corruption in a bygone era, there were rumors that government officials routinely offered receipts every time they accepted a bribe. Last week, Hamid Karzai, the embattled president of Afghanistan, admitted that he was no better: providing receipts to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which secretly bribed him with "bags of cash dropped off regularly at the presidential palace".

The New York Times revealed that Karzai was on the CIA payroll, receiving millions of dollars in regular payments for the last decade. The Afghan president told reporters the CIA money was "an easy source of petty cash" and part of a "slush fund" to pay off warlords and buy their loyalties in a country battling a violent insurgency.

"This is cash," Karzai was quoted as saying, "It is the choice of the US government." He was not allowed to disclose the amounts of the CIA payments, he said.

While the United States preaches "good governance" to developing countries at the United Nations, says one African diplomat, "it has been doing the reverse in its own political backyard".



unhappycamper comment: Not to be outdone, MI6 has also been delivering bags of cash to Karzai --> http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10038988/MI6-handing-bundles-of-cash-to-Hamid-Karzai.html