How the CIA's bags of cash couldn't buy President Karzai Cash for Karzai: There is little evidence the payments bought the influence sought. Photo: Anja Niedringhaus For more than a decade, wads of US dollars packed into suitcases, backpacks and, on occasion, plastic shopping bags have been dropped off every month or so at the offices of Afghanistan's President, courtesy of the Central Intelligence Agency. Tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the CIA to the office of President Hamid Karzai, according to current and former advisers to the Afghan leader. "We called it ghost money," said Khalil Roman, who was Mr Karzai's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005. It came in secret, and it left in secret. The CIA, which declined to comment, has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr Karzai. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash show payments on a vast scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing. Moreover, there is little evidence the payments bought the influence sought. Instead, some US officials said, the cash has fuelled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan. "The biggest source of corruption in Afghanistan was the United States," one US official said. The US was not alone in delivering cash to the President. Mr Karzai acknowledged a few years ago that Iran regularly gave bags of cash to a top aide. But instead of securing his good graces, the payments may well illustrate the opposite: Mr Karzai is seemingly unable to be bought. Over Iran's objections, he signed a strategic partnership deal with the US last year, causing the Iranians to halt their payments, two senior Afghan officials said. Now, Mr Karzai is seeking control over the Afghan militias raised by the CIA to target operatives of al-Qaeda and insurgent commanders, counter to the Obama administration's plans for fighting militants.