WASHINGTON — The CIA is making secret payments to a substantial portion of Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s administration, in part out of concern that Karzai often seems to have a limited grasp of developments in his government, according to current and former U.S. officials.
The payments are long-standing in many cases and designed to help the agency maintain a deep roster of allies and sources within the presidential palace. They have continued despite concerns that the agency is backing corrupt officials and undermining efforts to wean Afghans’ dependence on secret sources of income and graft.
“Half the palace is on the payroll,” said a U.S. official, who added that some officials function as agency informants but that others collect stipends under more informal arrangements meant to ensure their accessibility to the CIA.
A former agency official said the payments were necessary because “the head of state is not going to tell you everything” and because Karzai often seems unaware of moves that members of his own government make.
“Karzai is blind to about 80 percent of what’s going on below him,” he said.
The disclosure comes as a corruption investigation into one of Karzai’s senior national-security advisers — and an alleged agency informant — puts new strain on the already fraying relationship between Washington and Kabul.
Top U.S. officials, including Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and U.S. Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., have expressed concern about Karzai’s efforts to rein in anti-corruption teams, as well as intervention in the case against the security adviser.
The aide, Mohammad Zia Salehi, is accused of accepting a $10,000 car as a bribe in exchange for his assistance in quashing a wide-ranging corruption probe.
The issue carries enormous stakes for the Obama administration. Concerns that the Afghan government is hopelessly corrupt have prompted a congressional panel to withhold billions of dollars in aid and threaten to erode American support for the war.
But Karzai supporters accuse their U.S. counterparts of exploiting the issue, and the Salehi arrest in particular, to humiliate the Afghan leader while ignoring more pressing priorities.
In the latest sign of his vexation, Karzai said Thursday that President Barack Obama’s timeline for withdrawing U.S. troops “has given courage to the enemies of Afghanistan,” and complained that the U.S. wasn’t doing enough to force Pakistan to stop supporting the Taliban.
“We haven’t progressed in the war against terrorism,” Karzai said in a statement.
The CIA has maintained relationships with Afghan government officials for years. But the disclosure that perhaps dozens of members of Karzai’s government are on the CIA’s payroll underscores the complex nature of the U.S. role in Afghanistan.
Even as agency dollars flow in, U.S.-backed investigative units are targeting prominent Afghans in the government and trying to stem an exodus of more than $1 billion in cash annually from the country.
A CIA spokesman declined to comment on the agency’s financial ties to Afghan officials.
“This agency plays an essential role in promoting American goals in Afghanistan, including security and stability,” said the spokesman, Paul Gimigliano. “Speculation about who may help us achieve that is both dangerous and counterproductive.”
