Potemkin insurgency: US paying Afghan security firms to bribe Taliban leaders

Millions of US tax-dollars are being funnelled into Afghan private security forces, who, in turn, use the money to bribe the Taliban commanders. The Taliban and the security forces then stage fake battles to make it look like the money needs to continue flowing. But don't worry: now that President Karzai's stolen the election, his brother is going to take over all the private forces and amalgamate them under his control, so they're bound to get a lot less corrupt.

Although the investigation is not complete, the officials suspect that at least some of these security companies -- many of which have ties to top Afghan officials -- are using American money to bribe the Taliban. The officials suspect that the security companies may also engage in fake fighting to increase the sense of risk on the roads, and that they may sometimes stage attacks against competitors.

Convoy Guards in Afghanistan Face an Inquiry (via Jon Taplin)

• [octopod]

  how is this bad ? the fights are staged, nobody gets hurt, it makes for good television.
  just sit back and enjoy the entertainment, it’s like Fox News, long ago the military industrial complex became the entertainment industrial complex.

  it’s just like WW3 has gone all WWE.

• [Teller]

  Well, which weapon of war do you prefer? Bucks or bullets? Anyway, the Karzai Bros are stockpiling while they can – and who can blame them? Once the US leaves, it’s back to 1400. octopod: righton.

• [IamInnocent]

  Well, where’s the surprise?
  Now, the next question should be: is America a real country or are you all just faking it?

  • [dculberson]

    is America a real country or are you all just faking it?

    Fake it ’till you make it!

• [Antinous / Moderator]

  The Romans regularly made “please don’t fight us” payments to the Huns, Goths, Vandals, etc. It didn’t prove to be a successful strategy in the long run. And it was a symptom of the decay of the Empire.

  • [Ugly Canuck]

    Except that the invaders at that time were the Goths, Huns, etc., and not the Romans. The analogy is very far from exact, for it is not the invadees (ie the Pashtuns) paying the Americans bribes, not to attack.

    This situation is more like the gifts and concessions which Rome’s more artful later policy would pay or render to the states on her borders: by ties of interest, those countries then formed a Gothic buffer between the Romans and the even farther Barbarians.
    The Romans also found it in their interests, as have most Empires since, to keep independent bordering States – those which they could not, or did not wish to, wholly take over and make utterly subservient – in a state of unrest and faction, either internally, or one against the other, to prevent any dangerous unification of their enemies, and to keep them otherwise occupied, than in attacking Roman lands.

    All in all, and considering the entire situation, par for the course. And IMHO to be somewhat expected.
    After all, people only have the examples of history to learn from.
    If they ever do learn, that is.

  • [Anonymous]

    Except the Byzantines kept making “please don’t fight us” payments for a long time. It works well if you know when to do it: when it’s cheaper than fighting, and you have a plan for how to recover your position. If for instance we were bribing the Taliban as a one-time part of a rebuilding strategy, I’d be ok with it.

    • [Trent Hawkins]

      around the time of Nevsky Russia also payed a “don’t fight us” tax to the Mongolians and that worked quite well even though it was politically unfavored.

• [thequickbrownfox]

  Well, it is a step-up from the Bush strategy of paying off warlords with suitcases full of US currency.

  But they were just primitive warlords, Abdullah Abdullah was wearing robes. Now he wears pin-stripe suits.

• [Anonymous]

  http://www.france24.com/en/20091016-french-army-denies-reports-italy-paying-bribes-taliban

• [Felton]

  the fights are staged, nobody gets hurt, it makes for good television. just sit back and enjoy the entertainment

  It gives “theater warfare” a whole new meaning.

• [Anonymous]

  Yay! Capitalism! Remember everyone, competition is good for you!

• [MikeyV]

  The service you provide by exposing this stuff is amazing. A web site I feel comfortable using without fear of being surveiled due to its hackerish origins. I would love to read things like Al-Jazeera news just to get another take on what the rest of the world thinks but don’t for fear of being labeled a terrorist sympathizer. Even though I have no such feelings.
  After downloading Little Brother and reading half of it on my cell phone while waiting for new tables at work I sent my daughter a hardbound copy last Christmas because I realized how important this stuff is. BTW I just finished the other half last night while on a trip here with her in Rome. And its a very dog eared copy. – Thanks Again!

• [Baldhead]

  Is it corruption when it’s the status quo for centuries?

• [Drew from Zhrodague]

  I sure am glad my money for pot is going to Kanukistani growers, and not foreign terrorist organizations. Only the government can prevent these evil people from being funded. Wait, what?

  • [Ugly Canuck]

    In related drug news:

    http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1993375,00.html

    Sure, US Armed Forces eradication of opium poppies makes good sense?
    Why not just buy the whole damned crop?