Is this what 21st century warfare looks like….handing out Viagra? Apparently, the U.S. military is using new and unusual tactics to win over Afghan Chiefs. In this latest article in the Washington Post, the idea is, in order to gain information and earn the trust of Afghan Chiefs, we, as in the U.S., must be willing to think of unique ideas to entice cooperation from tribal leaders. Hey, if it saves live of innocent Afghans and our soldiers, I say hand out as many little blue pills as it takes! As long as we are building schools for girls, in conjunction with happy pills, I am fine with this strategy. In the end, the way to “win” this war, is to “win” over the Afghan’s themselves and make the Taliban as unpopular as possible.
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.
Elena,
One correction, the CIA is handing out the pills, not the military. There is a difference. It’s a nice change of pace from waterboarding.
Sometimes. Depends on who you talk to. There seems to have been a great deal of cross pollination between military and CIA during the Iraq war. Probably the same thing in Afghanistan.
Viva Viagra. Whatever it takes. Brilliant! A great example of American ingenuity.
Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad.
Euripides
If this new story doesn’t irrefutably show us how asinine, insane, wasteful, useless, idiotic, delusional, and hopeless the missions are in afghanistan and iraq, then I don’t what else it’s going to take.
I might as well flip a coin to figure out if I should laugh or cry.
One day we’ll look back upon this stupidity with deep regret. The afghan’s stood like a rock against the murderous Red Army for a decade. The Soviets were such barbarians, they used to sow landmines that looked like little dolls in the hopes that the afghan children would pick them up and blow themselves up. They would wipe out whole villages for no reason. They would tie up the afghan people and run them over with tanks for fun. The Red Army inflicted percentage-wise more death and destruction upon the afghan people than the Nazis inflicted upon them during WWII.
And through all of this, the Afghans never broke and their faith never wavered. At the end they said ‘the Red Bear died the death of a thousand cuts.’
We would give the Afghans money to persuade them to do what we wanted. It was not uncommon for them to take our money and do the opposite of what we wanted just to piss us off. That’s how independent minded they are.
And all of that will somehow be forgotten?
Mackie,
This is what I know about the aftermath of our “helping” the Afghans against the Russians, an evil empire rose called the Taliban. They prevented women from learning and reduced them to inanimate objects, hidden behind Burka’s. No one cared about the plight of these women until we were forced to deal with the Taliban because of 9-11.
Opinion,
Thanks for the clarification đ
Elena,
Let’s be honest. We don’t care about Afghan women either.
As for the Taliban being evil…says who? It was a civil war. It was none of our business. The plight or non-plight (depending upon your beliefs and perspective) of women in Afghanistan is none of our business.
I support anyone who would personally choose to go themselves to Afghanistan and fight for human rights. If they want to persuade other people to willingly join their private army, I’ve got no problem with that and would see it as foolhardy but noble. I would wish them well on their crusade. Perhaps they would succeed. It’s more likely they would not come back.
But not one American soldier should die so that women don’t have to wear Burka’s. That’s almost criminal.
Mackie,
Where is your spirit of equal rights for all? Does that just apply to your own personal causes? Because we ignored the failing state of Afghanistan, Osama Bin Laden was able to spread his poison. YOU many not care about the plight of other people in other countries, but as a Nation, built on the premise of fairness and equality, whether we have achieved that end goal or not, we have an obligation NOT to turn a blind eye. I would venture to say, where we as interested in helping struggling countries like Afghanistan, we could AVOID disasters like 9-11, countries like Afghanistan are absolutely our business.
Mackie,
You may want to see a piece called “Afghanistan Unveiled”. It is quite enlightening to see the utter devastation these women suffered, it isn’t just about Burka’s, it is akin to modern day slavery.
I will say, military help is only required so that a massive social reconstruction can happen in Afghanistan, THAT is the real hope for Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism.
Elena,
I’m not saying it’s wrong to care about Afghan women. But I sincerely doubt whether Americans as a whole care in the least. And our leaders are lying when they claim that they care.
I hope things improve for Afghan women. But when I say ‘improve’, I’m talking about the western meaning of the word. I’d never put my life on the line for this ‘improvement’ though. And I’d never force someone else to put their life on the line for it. But if anyone wants to volunteer to put their own life in danger for it, that’s their choice.
Osama’s ‘poison’ is not really poison as much as it is payback. He explained this to us when he said ‘as you kill so shall you be killed, as you bomb, so shall you be bombed.’
Payback is why we were attacked. Even if we had given Afghanistan all the money we had, we still would have been attacked.
The idea that Al Queda was born because of failed states like Afghanistan is a myth. There’s simply no truth to it. Al Queda lived in Afghanistan, not because it was a chaotic state, but because it is easy to live and train in a chaotic state. Al Queda also lives in modern states. They have to act differently. They can’t train militarily. But they are able to accomplish certain things in modern states that they can’t do in chaotic states. For example, the 9-11 hijackers actually took flying lessons right here in OUR schools, in the good ole USA. These guys are good!
We probably still have Al Queda here in the USA. Probably the next terrorist attack in the USA will come from an American born and American bred Muslim. And that will be a great, great tragedy for us. Because American Muslims are the cultural/religious/linguistic bridge between the USA and the Islamic world. They would be essential in building a peace between the two worlds. I think they would be indispensable. Without them, we can’t translate, and I don’t mean linguistically.
But we are steadily burning this bridge between two worlds. And partly because we continue to occupy both Afghanistan and Iraq, and shove our notions of ‘human rights’ down the throats of people who don’t agree.
The way they treat women is not funny … but you have to laugh at the article.
Read Charlie Wilson’s War (then see the movie). It’s probably the best historical commentary on how we got into (and out of) Afghanistan (and also explains 9/11).
It also explains how we created Al Qaeda. Our work in Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion was covert. When we left, we created a vacuum which contained millions of dollars of weapons (including hundreds of Stinger missiles). Folks like Bin Laden, who was a visible Freedom Fighter (and covert ally of the CIA) during the Afghanistan war against the Russians was left with arms, money, a reputation, and a power vacuum.
We created the seeds of today’s terrorist threat by leaving Afghanistan without rebuilding its infrastructure and creating a free market so it could sustain itself. It remains one of the most primitive places on the planet.
Like I said, read Charlie Wilsons war before replying. I can attest it’s historically quite correct (and a fun book). Charlie was quite a character and loads of fun at parties.
True enough, Mackie. We armed the mujaheddin and encouraged them only as far as we needed them to bring down the Soviet Union. Once we got what we wanted, we essentially abandoned the country and let these armed thugs take over their country and impose their own brand of religious tyranny on the Afghan people.
If you really want to get angry about how we got into this mess of fighting “the war on terror” in the first place, read (forget the movie) “Charlie Wilson’s War.” Unfortunately, we would be well on the way to repeating history if we were to leave Afghanistan now. I think we’re stuck there for the long term.
And I don’t think that, as a country, we can justify worrying about genocide, AIDS and female circumcision in Africa, and then turn our backs on the Afghan people, especially the women who suffered so cruelly under the Taliban, and who would suffer again if we abandoned them.
On another note, who are these traitorous ndividuals who are disclosing these tactics to the Washington Post?
I have had the privilege of doing some volunteer work with an attorney who represents many immigrant women who have been victims of heinous crimes. The cases are heartbreaking.
Things will never improve for Afghan women as long as there is a Taliban. I had a co-worker whose husband was from Afghan. He indicates that as long as the Taliban are in power there will be no hope for the Afghan people. I am infuriated that our government would hand out Viagra to anyone. Just another way to demean the women of that country and increase sexual crimes against women.
Some excerpts from an article in Wikipedia that I read explains this better than I. Women in Afghanistan are forced to wear the burqa in public, because, according to a Taliban spokesman, “the face of a woman is a source of corruption” for men not related to them. They are not allowed to work. They are not allowed to be educated after the age of eight, and until then are only permitted to study the Qur’an. Women seeking an education are forced to attend underground schools such as the Golden Needle Sewing School, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They are not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which had led to many illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban’s laws. The Taliban allowed and in some cases encouraged marriage for girls under the age of 16. Amnesty International reported that 80 percent of Afghan marriages were considered to be by force.
From the age of eight, women are not allowed to be in direct contact with men, other than a close blood relative, husband, or in-law. Women cannot in the streets without a blood relative or without wearing a Burqa. Women cannot not wear high-heeled shoes as no man should hear a womanâs footsteps lest it excite him. Women must not speak loudly in public as no stranger should hear a woman’s voice. All ground and first floor residential windows should be painted over or screened to prevent women being visible from the street. The Taliban believe the face of a woman is a source of corruption for men who are not related to themâ. The photographing or filming of women is banned as is the displaying pictures of females in newspapers, books, shops or the home. Women were forbidden to appear on the balconies of their apartments or houses; A Womanâs presence is banned on radio, television or at public gatherings of any kind.
Question? So who do you think the Chieftans will be having sex with? The older women? I do not think so. I will be the younger innocent women.
My husband told me about this story last night. I thought he was making it up. Once he told me it was the CIA handing out the little blue pills. I didn’t doubt the story any longer.
I agree with Marie. The younger innocent women will be the ones the chiefs will share the “experience” of the viagra with. While I think giving away the pills is a far better choice as opposed to cash, surgies, visas, etc., but I am concerned for those young women. Women are humans too, and should NOT be treated like possessions.
Mackie,
Don’t fall off your chair, but I agree with this whole heartedly….
But we are steadily burning this bridge between two worlds. And partly because we continue to occupy both Afghanistan and Iraq, and shove our notions of âhuman rightsâ down the throats of people who donât agree.
While I do understand us wanting the rest of the world to be like the us. I do believe this is an unrealistic concept. I love my country, but who are we(the United States) to be the “moral police” of the world? Our beliefs and practices are very different from those still living like we in the U.S. did a couple of hundred years ago. We must also, remember these people come from a culture where women are NOT equal. While, I do not agree with women being second class citizens, I think it would easily take half a century for them to come around and see equality for women if then or ever.
I agree with Emma we can not justify worrying about all the problems of the world. We have problems of our own right here in the US that need attention a heck of lot more than the rest of the world. What about “charity starts at home”? Or “country first”?
Upon further thought, I do agree that the risk is to younger women, but how do we begin to even GIVE women a chance there?
Emma,
I also agree with your premise.
Unfortunately, what many of you are overlooking, is that war is a real bastard. It is ugly, cruel and vicious. Can we afford to get on our morally right high horse to this extent at this stage of the game? What’s worse, the taliban or a few horn dog freedom fighters with multiple wives? What’s worse, viagra or opium being sold around the world?
We need to prevail in Afghanistan. We are not Russia. Viagra is far better than land mines.
We will never succeed in Afghanistan. If we had gone in quickly and strongly to kill Al Queda and Taliban and then left just as quickly, then we would have succeeded.
But we decided to stick around in a country where foreigners are never very welcome for long. The british tried to rule afghanistan in the 1800s. They failed miserably. The story of the Massacre of Elphinstone’s Army is fascinating and quite tragic. It’s also very truly Afghan. The stupidity, pomp, and arrogance of the British was no match for the guile and cunning of the Afghans. It was almost too easy for the Afghans. The British were all slaughtered to a man except for 1 who escaped alive to tell the story. We would do well as a nation to draw some lessons from this massacre.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massacre_of_Elphinstone%27s_army
We’re not going to change anything in Afghanistan. After we leave it will be as if we had never arrived.
And we didn’t do anything wrong in helping the Afghans fight the Russians. It was a mutually beneficial relationship. They killed a lot of Russians for us and helped bleed the Soviet economy dry. In fact, helping them to kill the Soviets was probably the most humanitarian thing we’ve ever done for the afghan people.
The idea that our involvement in the Soviet-Afghan war ‘created’ Al Queda is a complete fabrication. It’s a myth created for people who have a political axe to grind. During the Soviet-Afghan war, Osama Bin Laden and other like minded Arab-Afghans viewed us as enemies to Islam. We tried to contact them and work with them, but they would have nothing to do with us.
Once again, it’s the lesseer of the two evils. I do realize war is ugly, but to what avail if they don’t buy into “our ways”. I do believe we must finish what’s been started. However, I feel they will revert right back to “their ways” as soon as the US is out of Afighantistan.
I guess they are like any other people. They will do what they have to do to get by in an extremely harsh, relentless land. If growing poppies for opium is the easiest way to make a buck, then they will do it. Are they any better than our drug dealers who find it easier to sell drugs than to get an education and a job?
I think we always have to be on guard for Taliban types. We would have something similar here if certain people had their way.
Mackie, you are right that our involvement in the Soviet/Afghan affair did not “create” Al Qaeda, but it did arm the Taliban with state-of-the-art weaponry (for the time) that allowed them to seize control of the country. We hailed them as heroes and freedom fighters– –like the murderous Gulbuddin Hekmatyar–knowing full well how violent some of them were (although it suited our purposes at the time). Like it or not, we own this one.
Emma
I do not agree with you much of the time but I will have to say we are on the same page on this one. Yes, like it or not the US does own this one.
The Progressive Puppy December 26, 2008
CIA bribes Afghan men with Viagra – and their women suffer.
In a country where women are often raped and beaten by their husbands and the police, where five-year-old girls are sold for sex, where despair and hopelessness is so intense that dozens of women have actually set themselves on fire to escape the abuse, American CIA operatives are bribing men with a pill to enhance their sex drive.
Joby Warrick at the Washington Post writes: 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.” Apparently Afghan men no longer accept cash in exchange for information about Taliban activity since it draws unwanted attention and could expose the informants’ identities. “If you give an asset $1,000, he’ll go out and buy the shiniest junk he can find, and it will be apparent that he has suddenly come into a lot of money from someone,” said Jamie Smith, a veteran of CIA covert operations in Afghanistan and now chief executive of SCG International, a private security and intelligence company. “Even if he doesn’t get killed, he becomes ineffective as an informant because everyone knows where he got it.” The key, Smith said, is to find a way to meet the informant’s personal needs in a way that keeps him firmly on your side but leaves little or no visible trace. (Except for the highly visible traces left on the women and young girls who are further brutalized by these newly sexed-up fundamentalists.) While the CIA is busy satisfying the “personal needs” of Muslim polygamists who treat wives as chattel and daughters as disposable goods, the individual horrors inflicted upon females in Afghanistan can only increase due to their abusers’ prolonged “staying power.”
RAWA is an organization of Afghan women that promotes human rights and social justice in the war-ravaged country. From their website: The US “War on terrorism” removed the Taliban regime in October 2001, but it has not removed religious fundamentalism which is the main cause of all our miseries. In fact, by reinstalling the warlords in power in Afghanistan, the US administration is replacing one fundamentalist regime with another. And now the defenseless victims of a patriarchal society drunk on religion have yet another enemy to deal with: that little blue pill from Pfizer. (photos courtesy of RAWA.)
Thanks for the post Marie. I guess the real question is how DO we help change this horrific life these Afghan women lead. I guess my orignial post was not complete, not in the least. Thanks for adding another dimension, albeit very frustrating and depressing, to this new found way to “help” defeat the Taliban.
“In a country where women are often raped and beaten by their husbands and the police, where five-year-old girls are sold for sex, where despair and hopelessness is so intense that dozens of women have actually set themselves on fire to escape the abuse, American CIA operatives are bribing men with a pill to enhance their sex drive.”
Don’t kid yourselves folks – “woman raped and beaten by their husbands – five year olds sold for sex, despair and hoplessness is so intense that dozens of women have ???? to escape the abuse”.
You are describing things that happen right here in PWC. Frankly, we enable this here in the US and we facilitate it around the globe.
Elena,
I wish I knew the answer to your question. The Afghan women are just one of the many groups of women in the world who suffer unjustly.
You are right Marie, women are brutalized all over the world and my flippant response to the idea of Viagra was clearly not well thought out. My hope is that if you can create some semblence of a working government that can protect the people, then maybe, just maybe, there is the possiblity of a more just environment for the women of Afghanastan. The stories on shown on RAWA are just heartbreaking.
Juturna,
I agree, there are terrible things that happen here in the U.S.A., but the level to which they occur in countries like Afghanstan is more like an epidemic. At least here, there are places for women to go, as long as we make it possible for them to feel like they have a choice and are willing to reach out for help, certainly the ability to help them, in theory, is much better here.
In theory. In theory.
Just not wholly Govt sanctioned.
Michigan State Police records from 1997 show that a woman is killed by a partner or former partner about once a week in Michigan.
In 2005, 12.1 of every 1,000 American children, almost 900,000 in all, suffered abuse by adults, with parents of victims accounting for almost 80% of abusers.
Every day, about four children die in the U.S. because of abuse or neglect, most of them babies or toddlers.
For every incident of child abuse or neglect that gets reported, itâs estimated that two others go unreported.
Estimates range from 960,000 incidents of violence against a current or former spouse, boyfriend, or girlfriend each year to 4 million women who are physically abused by their husbands or live-in partners each year.
31,260 women were murdered by an intimate from 1976-1996.
Females accounted for 39% of the hospital emergency department visits for violence-related injuries in 1994 but 84% of the persons treated for injuries inflicted by intimates
Every year, domestic violence results in almost 100,000 days of hospitalizations, almost 30,000 emergency department visits, and almost 40,000 visits to a physician. Source: American Medical Association. 5 issues American Health. Chicago 1991.
Studies by the Surgeon General’s office reveal that domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44, more common than automobile accidents, muggings, and cancer deaths combined. Other research has found that half of all women will experience some form of violence from their partners during marriage, and that more than one-third are battered repeatedly every year. Source: Journal of American Medical Association, 1990.
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AND OF GREAT NOTE-FOR ALL THOSE HELPFUL PLACES WE HAVE HERE IN THE USA FOR BATTERED WOMEN TO MAKE THEIR CHOICE: Women who leave their batterers are at 75% greater risk of severe injury or death than those who stay. Source: Barbara Hart, National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, 1988.
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I’d call this an epidemic. We are all still limited in our thinking that “this can’t/doesn’t happen here.” It does. They print these facts in Afganistan and elsewhere about the US. We look like hypocrites. We are hypocrites.
Thank you for posting this Juturna, it is clear to see the violence, directed at women, still exists here in America.
It is easy to believe those statistics when we look at the behavior that is considered acceptable. When women (and children) are the object of derision on a continual basis, people become desensitized to this type of bullying. The bullying can go from psychological to physical.
Let’s look at an example that Alanna, Elena and I go through daily because of a couple of black velvets, probably the same person, who feel it is perfect acceptable to leave us hateful, vulgar, nasty messages. We have them all in a nasty chest behind the scenes.
I wonder if the other velvets would cheer the famous bad boy on (yes the one you were all feeling sorry for) if we were to release those comments and you saw how really filthy and hideous he is? I sincerely hope not.
Moon-howler, Perhaps they should be read into the record at the next BOCS Citizens Time. I’m sure the “S” twins would be quick to condemn such remarks.
Ivan, I expect anyone would be censored who attempted to read these things in public. Remember the woman who told one of the double S boys to kiss her ass? That is Sunday School talk compared to this velvet.
Moon-howler, Perhaps a 9500 Liberty You Tube resitation.
Marie,
SI read your post with interest, “…ome excerpts from an article in Wikipedia that I read explains this better than I. Women in Afghanistan are forced to wear the burqa in public, because, according to a Taliban spokesman, âthe face of a woman is a source of corruptionâ for men not related to them. They are not allowed to work. They are not allowed to be educated after the age of eight, and until then are only permitted to study the Qurâan. Women seeking an education are forced to attend underground schools such as the Golden Needle Sewing School, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They are not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which had led to many illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Talibanâs laws. The Taliban allowed and in some cases encouraged marriage for girls under the age of 16. Amnesty International reported that 80 percent of Afghan marriages were considered to be by force….” Ironically, most of this could be a description of the United States at the turn of the last Century (and well into the 20th Century).
My take away is there aren’t many males posting to this web site. You know, the assumption is that the little blue pill only benefits the man. Have you considered that the woman in the relationship might also be “grateful” for the help? I see a lot of very prejudice assumptions and generalizations unfounded by facts of any kind regarding Afghan men in general. The anecdotal evidence cited is not necessarily typical and could be applied to pretty much any country or ethnic group. In fact, it is a favorite tactic of the blog this site was created to balance.
Why are the remarks about Afghani men any more prejudicial than remarks made here about the women. Because we aren’t there, the generalizations are sweeping. Let’s put it this way, the women weren’t forcing other women to don the burka.
It is a bit of an overgeneralization to broadly assume that the pills would be just another tool to exploit women. It’s highly possible too that the four wives(!) of the aging warlord were OK with this.
Unfortunately, the number of ways we can get crucial information from sources that will not offend–or exploit–someone else are limited. I’m not advocating anything like waterboardiIng–far from it–but sometimes you have to look to the greater good.
I am ok with it. It beats land mines and water-boarding. War isn’t nice. Everything about it is nasty.
Robert E. Lee:
It is well that war is so terrible — lest we should grow too fond of it
VG quote MH – except it’s good for making money. That’s the sad part. Our capitalism has become decidedly immoral. That will kill it in the long run.
Emma – agree. Either we commit and do it or we forget it. Let’s not judge the tactics of those on the front line. Either we trust them or we don’t. Attempting to apply morals/standards of our culture to another culture is usually either arrogant or futile – both a waste of time and still results in death.
So much has happened with our country the past 8 years I have lost track of what is moral and isn’t moral. Take profiling. It made perfect sense after 9-11 to check out muslim men flying in first class. Yet we are told by our government that is wrong.
I honestly have felt that right and wrong as I knew them were turned upside down.
Bad things happen everywhere… including America. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28415693/
Read a 1,000 Splendid Suns. Authored by the same person that wrote Kite Runner. I like the 1,000 Splendid Suns better – portrays the plight of Afghani women and girls. Quite compelling.
Thank you opinion for point this out. I see stuff like this on a regular basis and have never gotten ‘accustomed’ to it. It is all around us. Everywhere. Just not overtly government sanctioned. Mackie, you should be all over this issue…. Gov’t agencies tracking abusers not victims is the first place to start. Like how many times a child has been beaten by the SAME person. Not how many times the child is beaten. Lovely.
Did you know that until 1954, child abusers, when actually charged, were charged with cruelty to animal charges as there were no laws on the books about cruelty toward children at the time!!!!
If we track child abuse by the abusers rather than by the abused, then we learn nothing of its impact on the victim.