Sunday - December 28, 2008

U.S. hands over Viagra pills to Afghan warlords in return for vital Taliban intelligence.

I suppose it’s one way to gather information in a war zone.
Does this also mean US Intel. will be contributing to a possible increase in the population of that blighted place?

OK it looks funny.  I guess.  Maybe.  Not too sure.  Yeah, it’s funny.

By Mail Foreign Service
Last updated at 12:55 AM on 28th December 2008

CIA agents have come up with a potent new weapon in the war in Afghanistan.

Instead of giving local chieftains cash or guns for information about the Taliban, they are supplying them with Viagra.

The anti-impotency drugs are said to have worked wonders for aging tribal chiefs, many of whom have much younger wives.

(WHOA. HOLD THE PHONE. YOUNGER WIVES?  HOW YOUNG?  MAYBE THIS ARTICLE ISN’T AS FUNNY AS I THOUGHT)

They have greeted returning agents with a mass of information about Taliban movements and supply routes - and a request for more of the little blue pills.

In a country where corruption is rife, offering bribes has been standard practice for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency since the war began in 2001. Agents say warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their co-operation.

School equipment, toys, medicine and even dental care have been offered in return for intelligence on enemy forces.

Cash or weapons were also popular but these often attracted attention from the Taliban, who exacted revenge on villagers for helping coalition troops.

‘If you give somebody $1,000, he’ll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone,’ said Jamie Smith, a veteran of CIA covert operations in Afghanistan.

‘Even if he doesn’t get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it.’

Mr Smith added: ‘You’re trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century.

‘So you look for those common things that motivate people everywhere.’

Which is why CIA field agents turned to Viagra. The drug has been available in the Afghan capital Kabul since 2003, five years after it first became available in the UK.

But the diamond-shaped pills are virtually unknown in many remote villages.

One CIA agent told the Washington Post newspaper the drug was offered only to elderly tribal leaders. Many have the four wives allowed by the Koran, and are persuaded that Viagra will ‘put them back in an authoritative position’, said the agent.

They are all given health checks, to make sure the new excitement will not prove too much for them and turn their families against the U.S.-led coalition.

VIAGRA

Posted by peiper     on 12/28/2008 at 01:04 PM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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