CIA Delivers Bags of Cash to Karzai

In a 2011 post we wrote,

"In President Karzai, the West is funding a presidency which is thought by the population and by international observers to not be legitimate.  It is also deeply corrupt."

A year ago, we wrote,

 Here is an excerpt from a current story from Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:
"The Taliban and criminal gangs, old and new warlords, and tribal leaders rule vast parts of the country. The authority of the government, many of whose ministers are considered corrupt, barely extends beyond its offices in Kabul. In order to survive, the Karzai government has to ignore or accommodate all those forces working to undermine it, from the Taliban to the warlords. "

Now, suddenly, our lapdog press reports that the CIA has been delivering bags or backpacks of cash monthly to President Karzai,

 "The C.I.A. payments open a window to an element of the war that has often gone unnoticed: the agency’s use of cash to clandestinely buy the loyalty of Afghans. The agency paid powerful warlords to fight against the Taliban during the 2001 invasion. /...
But the cash deliveries to Mr. Karzai’s office are of a different magnitude with a far wider impact, helping the palace finance the vast patronage networks that Mr. Karzai has used to build his power base. The payments appear to run directly counter to American efforts to clean up endemic corruption and encourage the Afghan government to be more responsive to the needs of its constituents." 

We stand by what we wrote in March,

"The only currency that will work with Mr. Karzai is money, not more of our money, but less of his accessible from his numbered bank accounts or other hidden assets.  Relationships are fine, but this one is dysfunctional and manipulative; we are on the wrong end of the manipulation.  The sooner this gets put on the right footing, the safer our troops, personnel and allies will be as we withdraw."