"As the administration debates whether pushing too hard on corruption will alienate a government whose cooperation they need to wage war"
And nothing must hamper the "need to wage war!"
"Prosecutor says Afghan leader fired him for fighting corruption" by Dexter Filkins and Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times | August 29, 2010
KABUL, Afghanistan — One of the country’s most senior prosecutors said yesterday that President Hamid Karzai fired him last week after he repeatedly refused to block corruption investigations at the highest levels of Karzai’s government.
Fazel Ahmed Faqiryar, the former deputy attorney general, said investigations of more than two dozen senior Afghan officials — including Cabinet ministers, ambassadors, and provincial governors — were being held up or blocked outright by Karzai, Attorney General Mohammed Ishaq Aloko, and others.
Faqiryar’s account of the troubles plaguing the anticorruption investigations has been largely corroborated in interviews with five Western officials familiar with the cases. They say that Karzai and others have thwarted prosecutions against senior government figures.
An American official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Afghan prosecutors had prepared several cases against officials suspected of corruption, but that Karzai was “stalling and stalling and stalling.’’
“We propose investigations, detentions and prosecutions of high government officials, but we cannot resist him,’’ Faqiryar said of Karzai.
This month, Karzai intervened to stop the prosecution of one of his closest aides, Mohammed Zia Salehi, who investigators say had been wiretapped demanding a bribe.
Karzai’s chief of staff disputed Faqiryar’s characterization of the president’s involvement....
Aloko did not respond to requests for comment. Salehi could not be reached.
Faqiryar made his accusations amid a growing sense of alarm in the Obama administration and in Congress over Karzai’s failure to take action against officials suspected of corruption, but also as the administration debates whether pushing too hard on corruption will alienate a government whose cooperation they need to wage war.
Awash in American and NATO money, Karzai’s government is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt in the world. American officials believe that the corruption drives Afghans into the arms of the Taliban.
Faqiryar said he and the other prosecutors were demoralized
[and exhausted; why the cut?]
by the repeated refusal of Karzai and Aloko to allow them to move against corrupt Afghan leaders.....
So am I by reading the Boston Globe and its New York Times pick-ups.
Bye!
--more--"
FLASHBACK:
"CIA reportedly pays Afghan officials; Practice seen as a method to cultivate sources" by Kimberly Dozier, Associated Press | August 28, 2010
WASHINGTON — The CIA has multiple members of the Afghan government on its payroll in order to help it keep track of various factions within the Afghan government, according to former US officials.
YOUR TAX DOLLARS at WORK, America!!
These individuals confirmed reports that the agency has used payments to cultivate intelligence sources across the Afghan government, a practice that has raised concerns at a time when the United States is fighting corruption there.
I can't imagine why!
See: The Boston Globe's Invisible Ink: Karzai's Kin
Isn't this getting to be a bit silly, America?
The New York Times and the Washington Post have reported the agency is paying Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for Afghanistan’s National Security Council, for information.
Salehi is accused of accepting a car in exchange for his help in exerting pressure on Afghan officials to ease off in another corruption case.
He didn't bargain for more?
The United States has said it views Salehi’s arrest as a test case of Karzai’s willingness to battle corruption in his government. But the revelation that he has also received payments from the US spy agency demonstrates the complex relationship Washington has developed with the Afghan government....
Is that what they are calling all the double-crossing deceptions these days?
A current and several former US government officials said the United States has little choice but to cut deals with corrupt individuals....
Right, we have little choice.
If so, I CHOOSE to LEAVE!
“The real issue here is clearly defining the US government’s priorities in Afghanistan,’’ said one of current US officials, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to talk about classified intelligence matters....
Oil pipeline. Drug trade profits. Base for power projection (not necessarily in that order).
The official said it was not news that the United States secretly makes payments to foreign government figures....
Yup, it is SOP!!!!
Three former senior intelligence officials also said it was common practice for the intelligence community to develop sources of information within fragile or hostile foreign governments. The former officials spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to talk about classified matters to the media.
Yeah, you see, it is OKAY if WE SPY on YOU!!!
One of the officials explained that from 2003 to 2004, the CIA had “a third of Iraq’s original coalition government on the payroll.’’ He added, “One of the first things we attempted to do when we went into Iraq is buy the loyalty of the former Ba’athists, so they wouldn’t fight us. You buy the leadership.’’
We BOUGHT Saddam's guys, huh?!!?!
Then WTF did we FIGHT the WAR FOR?!!!
I guess that is sort of the way ISRAEL has BOUGHT AmeriKa, huh?
Yeah, I'm sure America is serious about the corruption in Afghanistan.
Also see: Checking Out at the Afghan Airport
