Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan
By Joby Warrick
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, December 26, 2008
The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift.
Four blue pills. Viagra.
"Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam.
The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills.
For U.S. intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won. While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.
In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.
"Whatever it takes to make friends and influence people -- whether it's building a school or handing out Viagra," said one longtime agency operative and veteran of several Afghanistan tours. Like other field officers interviewed for this article, he spoke on the condition of anonymity when describing tactics and operations that are largely classified.
Officials say these inducements are necessary in Afghanistan, a country where warlords and tribal leaders expect to be paid for their cooperation, and where, for some, switching sides can be as easy as changing tunics. If the Americans don't offer incentives, there are others who will, including Taliban commanders, drug dealers and even Iranian agents in the region.
U.S. says Gaddafi troops raping, issued Viagra: envoys
by Louis Charbonneau
Reuters
April 28, 2011
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.S. envoy to the United Nations told the Security Council on Thursday that troops loyal to Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi were increasingly engaging in sexual violence and some had been issued the impotency drug Viagra, diplomats said.
Several U.N. diplomats who attended a closed-door Security Council meeting on Libya told Reuters that U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice raised the Viagra issue in the context of increasing reports of sexual violence by Gaddafi’s troops.
“Rice raised that in the meeting but no one responded,” a diplomat said on condition of anonymity. The allegation was first reported by a British newspaper.
Pfizer Inc’s drug Viagra is used to treat impotence.
Diplomats said if it were true that Gaddafi’s troops were being issued Viagra, it could indicate they were being encouraged by their commanders to engage in rape to terrorize the population in areas that have supported the rebels. That would constitute a war crime.
Several diplomats said Rice provided no evidence for the Viagra allegation, which they said was made in an attempt to persuade doubters the conflict in Libya was not just a standard civil war but a much nastier fight in which Gaddafi is not afraid to order his troops to commit heinous acts.
“She spoke of reports of soldiers getting Viagra and raping,” a diplomat said. “She spoke of Gaddafi’s soldiers targeting children, and other atrocities.”
RAPE AS WEAPON?
Rice’s statement, diplomats said, was aimed principally at countries like India, Russia and China, which have grown increasingly skeptical of the effectiveness of the NATO-led air strikes, which they fear have turned the conflict into a protracted civil war that will cause many civilian deaths.
Most council members, diplomats said, had expected Gaddafi’s government to collapse quickly. They said the frustration felt by India, Russia and China would likely grow if the war dragged on.
The use of rape as a weapon during wartime has received increasing attention at the United Nations. Last year, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed a special envoy on sexual violence during armed conflict, Margot Wallstrom.
Response
Donald Washington
iDrainTheSwamp.com
Nov 26, 2017
It is absurdly naive to believe the male enhancement dispensations by the CIA (and other members of the Intelligence Community) are limited to Afghanistan or to peace-loving warlords who would use them responsibly.
In Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan, there is a a cultural tradition called "bacha bazi." See: Wikipedia. Bacha bazi is a slang term in Afghanistan for a wide variety of activities involving sexual relations between older men and younger adolescent men, or boys. Bacha bazi has existed throughout history, and is currently reported in various parts of Afghanistan. Force and coercion are common, and security officials state they are unable to end such practices because many of the men involved in bacha bazi-related activities are powerful and well-armed warlords.
What role have agency-provided Viagra played in the past 30 years of constant chaos and terror? Are we able to find out? Can there ever been accountability?
Were these drugs even used in Libya-- or was the story fabricated by Susan Rice?
If, in fact, Viagra usage was prevalent during the conflict, where did it come from? Libya was not a country that manufactured the drug. It would have been imported. Who sold it to them? If Pfizer supplied Viagra to the Libyan government, there must be records. If so, can they be held accountable for providing support to terrorist organizations who use rape as a weapon of war?
If, in fact, Viagra was used by combatants during the conflict, is it more likely they were used by the rebel groups who were being funded and supplied by the CIA, or by the collapsing government? As Libya crumbled, was Gaddafi focused on providing his dwindling defense forces with male enhancement drugs, in a last ditch effort to inflict pain on the region? One might draw comparisons to Hitler's efforts to ramp up extermination even as Germany's defeat became imminent.
Considering that Libya was a secular state, meaning it was not subject to Islamic rule, and that under Gaddafi's reign it had among the highest living standards in all of Africa, including free education and healthcare, the idea that Gaddafi's government, even as it's resources were being cut off, would provide its troops with Viagra to use as an instrument of terror is not credible. Susan Rice, who doesn't have exactly the best track record when it comes to human rights, never presented any evidence.