CIA hired Karzai brother before 9/11

By the fall of 2008, Woodward says, “Ahmed Wali Karzai had been on the CIA payroll for years, beginning before 9/11. He had belonged to the CIA's small network of paid agents and informants inside Afghanistan. In addition, the CIA paid him money through his half-brother, the president.” Hamid Karzai was plucked from obscurity and installed as president after U.S.-backed Afghan forces chased the Taliban from power following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

This is an interesting statement but one that does not surprise anyone who is familiar with CIA's operational willingness to get involved with the drug trade.

But Woodward’s account of the CIA’s relationship with Karzai, who has also been accused repeatedly -- but not charged with -- protecting the illicit opium trade, is more nuanced. “He was not in any sense a controlled agent who always responded to U.S. and CIA requests and pressure,” Woodward writes. “He was his own man, playing all sides against the others -- the United States, the drug dealers, the Taliban and even his brother if necessary.” Still, the spymasters in Langley went with him.

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I think we all suspect (some even know) that the US intel agencys set up foreign gov's for their own purpose of "spreading freedom" however what tends to end up getting spread is a bunch of bull along with the typical politics. This one however goes well into the depths of supporting a country for the simple reason to use it to fight terrorists. Kinda like paying to use a nation's property at will.