An influential brother of the embattled Afghan President has reportedly been receiving regular payments from CIA agents since the US invasion of the country in 2001.
The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been paying Ahmed Wali Karzai, a suspected drug trafficker, for a variety of services, reports the prominent US daily, The New York Times, in its Wednesday edition.
Based on the report, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade and has fielded recruits for an Afghan paramilitary force operating at the CIA's direction in and around his home city of Kandahar.
The report also notes that Wali Karzai assists CIA contacts in the country and sometimes meets with Taliban leaders.
The militants have launched a bloody campaign against the NATO forces since the US-led invasion of the country began eight years ago.
The report observes that the close working relationship between the US spy agency and Karzai raises significant questions about America's war strategy in the war-torn country where the insurgency has skyrocketed over the past months.
The CIA declined to comment on the latest report, which has caused an uproar among the Afghan populace.
A report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has said that Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world's opium with devastating global consequences.
Although opium is known to be the major source of funding for the Taliban, it has been widely reported that opium production in Afghanistan has grown steadily and significantly since the US-led invasion of the country eight years ago.
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The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has been paying Ahmed Wali Karzai, a suspected drug trafficker, for a variety of services, reports the prominent US daily, The New York Times, in its Wednesday edition.
Based on the report, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai is a suspected player in the country's booming illegal opium trade and has fielded recruits for an Afghan paramilitary force operating at the CIA's direction in and around his home city of Kandahar.
The report also notes that Wali Karzai assists CIA contacts in the country and sometimes meets with Taliban leaders.
The militants have launched a bloody campaign against the NATO forces since the US-led invasion of the country began eight years ago.
The report observes that the close working relationship between the US spy agency and Karzai raises significant questions about America's war strategy in the war-torn country where the insurgency has skyrocketed over the past months.
The CIA declined to comment on the latest report, which has caused an uproar among the Afghan populace.
A report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime has said that Afghanistan produces 92 percent of the world's opium with devastating global consequences.
Although opium is known to be the major source of funding for the Taliban, it has been widely reported that opium production in Afghanistan has grown steadily and significantly since the US-led invasion of the country eight years ago.