CIA Wins Over Tribal Leaders With Viagra

U.S. Spy Agency Curries Favor With Afghan Chieftans By Offering Little Blue Pills As Bribes

(Washington Post)  The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.

Four blue pills. Viagra.

"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes, followed by a request for more pills.

For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.

"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people - whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," said one longtime agency operative and veteran of several Afghanistan tours. Like other field officers interviewed for this article, he spoke on the condition of anonymity when describing tactics and operations that are largely classified.

Officials say these inducements are necessary in Afghanistan, a country where warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their cooperation, and where, for some, switching sides can be as easy as changing tunics. If the Americans don't offer incentives, there are others who will, including Taliban commanders, drug dealers and even Iranian agents in the region.

The usual bribes of choice, cash and weapons, aren't always the best options, Afghanistan veterans say. Guns too often fall into the wrong hands, they say, and showy gifts such as money, jewelry and cars tend to draw unwanted attention.

"If you give an asset $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 and now chief executive of SCG International, a private security and intelligence company. "Even if he doesn't get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it."

The key, Smith said, is to find a way to meet the informant's personal needs in a way that keeps him firmly on your side but leaves little or no visible trace.

"You're trying to bridge a gap between people living in the 18th century and people coming in from the 21st century," Smith said, "so you look for those common things in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere."

Among the world's intelligence agencies, there's a long tradition of using sex as a motivator. Robert Baer, a retired CIA officer and author of several books on intelligence, noted that the Soviet spy service was notorious for using attractive women as bait when seeking to turn foreign diplomats into informants.

[catlady1412]

I''m thinking we did not need to waterboard anybody if all it takes to make friends are the methods in this article. Most people will spill their guts if somebody just asks them to! A little liquor works wonders too. Why would we need to torture as a routine effort is beyond me.

[seer57]

This is such a HARD topic to deal with.Would''nt you say guys?

[annd2302]

You mean to tell me, the CIA gives a perscription drug to an individual who has never seen the doctor?
Tisk, tisk, Mr. CIA five me some drugs that let me clean my windshield while driving 90 miles per hour, whats the difference?

[erb0087]

"CIA Wins Over Tribal Leaders With Viagra"

Isn"t the CIA worried about creating a lot of hardened terrorists over there ?

[wl7bzh]

Free viagra? Uh...what''s the age limitation on working for the CIA? My brain still works.

[ace_face1]

That''s a recipe for faithful alliances - as though the CIA are the only people who can get their hands on the stuff.

[erasmus606]

earache4

I guess that''s a yes.:)

[fleshmonger1]

This is another example of how the U.S. government and the attitude towards life and lesiure in the U.S. will further the divide between our two cultures and only serve in the long run to make the road we must walk more difficult. The zealots over there will have a field day weakening the power of those cheiftans who give in to their base desires and take brides from the U.S. government in the form of little blue pills and this will in turn create more instability in the long run. It may help in the short term but it will most certainly hurt in the long term...

[slim1h2o]

So,,the CIA and the Cheiftains would talk about whatever popped up?

[rev_miesse]

The C.I.A. could also distribute George W. Bush condoms,
for those who don''t know when its time to pull out.

[mahdeealoo]

Let''s advertise via public news sites that we know the trade routes of the Taliban and their movements. Now they can switch them all up and evade US troops again. Smart move, national press and CIA for leakage. One more time.

[wl7bzh]

No one ever tried to offer Mr. Bond viagra, though.

He would have resented that.

Posted by erb0087 at 05:04 AM : Dec 27, 2008

Yes, probably due to the British stiff upper lip.

[neoconrcrazy]

chemistry rules the world!

[honestabe8]

This ought to put them on the straight and narrow...

[centerfall94]

Bribing our enemies with drugs. Oh, it makes me proud to be an American.

[longtree-2009]

the native americans were given trinkets, beads, whiskeys, rifles to buy their loyalty and help the calvary fight other tribes in the american sweep to the west coast. today, we give them viagra. same tactic but different gifts which are just as useless longterm. suckers born everyday.

[slim1h2o]

CIA agent tp Taliban....

"We want the facts, just the facts, The "Hard" facts and nuttin else.

[erb0087]

"This happens not infrequently in James Bond films and others of that genre."

In one episode in one of these films, Bond [Sean Connery] is dancing with one of these femme fatales, with whom he has just spent a passionate night.

He suddenly realizes she''s a double agent, and he is about to be shot by her male accomplices. He spins her around quickly so that she, not he, is struck by the fatal bullet.

He then sets the now deceased double agent down on a chair next to another woman, saying,

"Will you keep an eye on my date for me ? She"s just dead."

[erb0087]

"Robert Baer, a retired CIA officer and author of several books on intelligence, noted that the Soviet spy service was notorious for using attractive women as bait when seeking to turn foreign diplomats into informants."

This happens not infrequently in James Bond films and others of that genre.

No one ever tried to offer Mr. Bond viagra, though.

He would have resented that.

[silverstar06]

Potassium nitrate would have been a whole lot better. For the sake of the four veiled ''younger'' wives...