Skip to: Content
Skip to: Site Navigation
Skip to: Search
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25, 2009
| Subscribe to Newser's RSS feeds RSS | Follow Newser on Twitter Twitter


1

Viagra Helps CIA Win Over Afghan Chiefs

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

Share

(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."

Some 20 elders from Shinwari district have lunch after a gathering in Jalalabad, Afghanistan, last year.
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.
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.
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)
« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow

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

« Prev« Prev | Next »Next » Slideshow
OFF THE GRID
11.24.09
Murdoch and Microsoft: The Mice Are Trying to Roar
11.23.09
Books Are Bad for You
1 comment
VIEWING:
 
Shannonals
Dec 27, 08 3:21 PM CST
Now this is hilarious. Using Viagra to obtain assistance from tribes Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
0
LEAVE A
COMMENT Comment Policy
Facebook ConnectPost this comment to Facebook?

After connecting you will have the option to post your comment on your Facebook profile.

 

Related Newser Stories

1126 Stories

Analysis

 Obama Is the Anti-Cowboy 

Slow decision on Afghanistan a contrast from Bush's gut checks

17 minutes ago
(Newser) - Barack Obama’s prolonged Afghanistan strategy review has if nothing else distinguished him from his predecessor—Obama is anything but the “gut player” Dubya claimed to be. In fact, he’s put on “a spectacle of deliberation unlike anything seen in the White House in recent memory,”... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Barack Obama • Afghanistan war • strategy • President Obama • Afghanistan exit strategy

Fresh Troops to Target Afghanistan's Troubled South

Kandahar key in coming Afghan surge

1 hour, 48 minutes ago
(Newser) - Though President Obama has yet to announce his plan for finishing the job in Afghanistan, military commanders say the bulk of the fresh troops—regardless of their number—will be sent to the country's volatile south to reverse Taliban gains, specifically targeting the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. The coming surge... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Taliban • Kandahar • Helmand province • Afghanistan war • Afghanistan exit strategy

Obama: I'll 'Finish the Job'
in Afghanistan

President's troop decision expected this week

Nov 24, 09 2:55 PM CST
(Newser) - He didn't tip his hand on many troops it would take, but President Obama said today that he intends to "finish the job" in Afghanistan. He promised to unveil a strategy after Thanksgiving that will "dismantle and degrade” the enemy while making sure that "al Qaeda and... More »

MORE ABOUT:
Afghanistan • Afghanistan war • President Obama • Afghanistan exit strategy

1126 Stories


Tribal politics key to gaining Afghan allies
Reuters


World  •  US 
TwitterFollow @NewserWorld on Twitter

 
Afghanistan • CIA • Viagra • tribal elders

from our news partners