The Times reports:
It's no secret that the Karzai administration has elements of corruption, and that Washington, while paying lip service to fighting such activity, tolerates it. (When American Peter Galbraith, then the No. 2 United Nations official in Afghanistan, made a stink about the massive voter fraud behind Karzai's re-election, he was promptly fired with Washington's blessing.)Mohammed Zia Salehi, the chief of administration for the National Security Council, appears to have been on the payroll for many years, according to officials in Kabul and Washington. It is unclear exactly what Mr. Salehi does in exchange for his money, whether providing information to the spy agency, advancing American views inside the presidential palace, or both.
In July, Salehi was arrested by Afghan police after being caught on tape soliciting a bribe in exchange for thwarting an American investigation into a company "shipping billions of dollars out of the country for Afghan officials, drug smugglers and insurgents," the Times reports. Just seven hours later, after Karzai intervened, Salehi was released. Karzai's half-brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, chairman of the Kandahar provincial council and suspected of involvement in the opium trade, is also believed to be on the CIA payroll.
With less than a year to go before American troop withdrawals begin, it's increasingly unlikely that Afghanistan will see any serious anti-corruption efforts or that Washington will push for them. But some American officials worry that the rampant corruption drives many Afghans to support the Taliban.
Read more at The New York Times.