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Viagra Helps CIA Win Over Afghan Chiefs

Sexual performance drugs make aging warlords true-blue pals against Taliban

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Dec 26, 2008 3:34 AM CST

(Newser) – Little blue pills are proving to be a potent weapon in the CIA's efforts to win support from Afghan chieftains in the battle against the Taliban, the Washington Post reports. The notoriously fickle warlords—often aging men with up to four wives to satisfy—usually expect to be paid for the co-operation, and agents say giving them money isn't always the best idea.

Chieftains given cash will often spend it on flashy goods, making it too obvious that they're paid informants, say agents. Something that leaves little trace is best, and sexual performance drugs have turned out to be a proven way to win true-blue friends. "He came up to us beaming," one official recalls of a 60-year-old clan leader given a few blue pills. "He said, 'You are a great man.' After that we could do whatever we wanted in his area."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Some 20 elders from Shinwari district have lunch after a gathering in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, last year. (AP Photo/Farzana Wahidy)

Master Sgt. Jose L Garcia of the Provincial Reconstruction team shakes hands with a village elder during a visit to a village in Mandozai, in Khost province, Afghanistan, earlier this year. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

Afghan men dance with US soldiers on guard inside a Humvee before the Shoura, or Conference of tribal elders, meeting in Charbaron, eastern Afghanistan, last year. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

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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 in the form of material aid that motivate people everywhere. - CIA veteran Jamie Smith

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Viagra Helps CIA Win Over Afghan Chiefs