Innovation in Counterinsurgency
Via Spencer Ackerman, this is definitely clever:
For some U.S. operatives in Afghanistan, Western drugs such as Viagra were just part of a long list of enticements available for use in special cases. Two veteran officers familiar with such practices said Viagra was offered rarely, and only to older tribal officials for whom the drug would hold special appeal. While such sexual performance drugs are generally unavailable in the remote areas where the agency’s teams operated, they have been sold in some Kabul street markets since at least 2003 and were known by reputation elsewhere.
“You didn’t hand it out to younger guys, but it could be a silver bullet to make connections to the older ones,” said one retired operative familiar with the drug’s use in Afghanistan. Afghan tribal leaders often had four wives — the maximum number allowed by the Koran — and aging village patriarchs were easily sold on the utility of a pill that could “put them back in an authoritative position,” the official said.
One especially neat thing about this is that unlike guns or money, our Taliban rivals have essentially no prospect of producing large quantities of advanced pharmaceuticals. So if Afghan elders decide they like their ED meds, they’ll really have no choice but to try to stay on our good sides. And conversely, if things don’t work out so well there’s much less potential for a “blowback” problem when you’ve been handing out viagra than when you’ve been handing out rocket launchers.
55 Responses to “Innovation in Counterinsurgency”
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December 26th, 2008 at 10:51 am
Maybe Obama should continue with the bipartisan theme, and name Bob Dole as his special emissary to Afghanistan.
December 26th, 2008 at 10:57 am
Who knows, it might lead to an Afghan version of “Brokeback Mountain”.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Yet another reason that the term “soft power” is inaccurate.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am
unlike guns or money, our Taliban rivals have essentially no prospect of producing large quantities of advanced pharmaceuticals.
That’s incredibly stupid. Our Taliban rivals have zero hope of developing such advanced pharmaceuticals, but if your organization can get guns, I’m sure they can get a viagara knockoff. It’s DRUGS! Notoriously small and easy to ship! With cheap-ass generic versions all over the place! Easier to find and transport than bullets!
And it’s really dumb to assume there’s no blowback in handing out sexual performance enhancing drugs for men in a country where women are treated like dirt. Christ, reinforcing virility as a sign of authoriy? Yeah, can’t imagine that working against us. Not to mention, one of those guys strokes out while having sex? Or has a kid who doesn’t look like him? The dirty Americans and their killer medicines?
Ugh. Gross story.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:06 am
heheheh . . . you said “blowback.”
December 26th, 2008 at 11:09 am
Yet another echo from 1968 — an update to the old slogan, “make love, not war.”
December 26th, 2008 at 11:12 am
Hm, if Matt’s plan for Afghanistan is to get them to stop growing poppy and start growing Viagra seeds, I hate to tell him, but it won’t work.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Elder Afghani tribal leaders have been losing power with the younger generation and their ability to take care of four wives will not put therm in any good standing with the younger men who fill the ranks of the Taliban.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Afghan tribal leaders often had four wives — the maximum number allowed by the Koran — and aging village patriarchs were easily sold on the utility of a pill that could “put them back in an authoritative position,” the official said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Isn’t it the responsibility of Afghan women not to attract men? Giving these little blue pills to old patriarchs will make that job even harder (no pun intended.)
December 26th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Actually the blowback will occur as soon as one of these guys experiences priapism, and erection lasting longer than four hours, and doesn’t have a doctor to consult immediately.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:41 am
How does that conversation even go? “Sir, your erection and stamina are vital to our national security. Here’s a little blue pill made possible only by the American pharmaceutical industry, may Allah bless and shelter them.”
December 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Dear Matt: There is of course the small and I suppose to you irrelevant issue of our enabling the rape of Afghani women via these ED drugs, but I suppose as long as the Afghan men are on our side no need to consider the women whatsoever.
Seriously, are you really this insensitive to women’s issues? I’d like to think not, but come on.
December 26th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
further proof of the wisdom of elbridge gerry, who famously said:
“A standing army is like a standing member. It’s an excellent assurance of domestic tranquility, but a dangerous temptation to foreign adventure.”
so first we get our standing army, then our foreign adventures, and now we’re handing out standing members in exotic places.
(and, yes, that is exactly what gerry meant by ’standing member’.)
December 26th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
PilgrimSoul, thank you. You are the first person, blogger or reader, who hasn’t said “Wow! what a cool idea!”
I mean, jesus christ on a f**king pogo stick, are pilgrim and I the only two people who see anything wrong with this?
December 26th, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Sure women’s issues, I agree with that. But the larger blowback issue here is the ongoing US fantasy that population growth can continue forever. We ALREADY have massive blowback from the stupidities of the 70s, when population blossomed out of control in the Middle East, the northern part of South Asia, and Africa; and all stunts like this do is send the message that the US is just fine with even more of it.
This strikes me as “clever” in the same way that Air America and CIA helping sell heroin was a clever idea in the late 60s. How did that turn out again, measured on a timescale longer than four years?
[And spare me crap about racism--- I'm against population growth anywhere and everywhere, and for population reduction in every nation on every continent.]
December 26th, 2008 at 1:01 pm
So are you assuming that every time an Afghan has a hard dick that he’s raping a woman? It sounds like an unspoken racist assumption masquerading as a “woman’s issue.”
December 26th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I think this is a good example of somthing we are likely to see more of in the future: the worst of Islamic patriarchy combined with the worst of modern Western sexual nihilism.
Hugh Hefner in the service of Moulay Ismael….truly a disturbing thought.
Kathy,
Of course Yglesias doesn’t see anything worng with it: he is of the school of thought that holds that anything that increases the amount of total f—ing in the world is a good thing. Sexual nihilists, in other words.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
There’s a difference between thinking it’s a good idea and thinking it’s a better idea than giving them weapons.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
There is of course the small and I suppose to you irrelevant issue of our enabling the rape of Afghani women via these ED drugs, but I suppose as long as the Afghan men are on our side no need to consider the women whatsoever.
Well, it’s not like the Taliban treats women any worse- oh, wait, they do.
December 26th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
From the original Washington Post article:
Once you take away the “cute,” mildly sensationalist slow-news-day Viagra angle, it’s more of the same. To a large extent we’ve helped create circumstances in which artificial limbs, vital medicines, basic school supplies (and schools themselves), and all the little perks of civic infrastructure are coveted commodities and therefore tools of political manipulation.
Somehow the Post missed the real story here, which is quite scary if you think about it. I mean, you’re already in a country where millions lack access to much-needed health care. Imagine the outrage if the government found such a lucrative incentive to make it even worse.
Can we even pretend to look like the good guys here?
December 26th, 2008 at 1:55 pm
Matthew: Not to get too far into this, but I’m not wild about the advent of viagra and what it tells white men about the value of their erections, either, so I think I’m on safe ground here. Moreover, I don’t have to assume that every time a man uses Viagra he is forcing sex on a woman in order to mke the very valid assumption that in any male-dominated society that is a very likely use for the drug.
Firebert: We can sit around all day and talk about whether being raped by non-Taliban Afghanis or just the plain old Taliban is an objectively worse experience for Afghani women, but to me that isn’t a particularly interesting or even useful discussion. Both are horrible; let’s try and seek solutions that diminish the likelihood of either possibilities. Pretending that dudes getting their rocks off means they will be significantly more successful at fighting the Taliban is a ridiculous logical leap, and there are other ways to lead this particular horse to water in currying their favour.
December 26th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I’m not wild about the advent of viagra and what it tells white men about the value of their erections, either, so I think I’m on safe ground here.
I think you’re just against the idea of white men having sex, correct?
December 26th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I really don’t see anything wrong with this. I suspect it’s a strategy that will work well. Some people seem to have some moral problem with it, but this is war. If we dropped a daisy cutter on an elementary school, would that somehow be more moral? For some on this post, it appears so. I certainly don’t remember those people complaining when we really have bombed schools in Afghanistan. How did sex become more problematic than killing people?
December 26th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
Actually, I doubt that international heroin dealers/jihadists could have that much trouble getting their hands on Viagra if they really felt it would help their cause.
December 26th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
MQ: Actually, by any elementary logical principles, it is impossible to conclude I said anything like I was upset with white men for having sex generally. I am upset with them whenever they have sex with women against their will, sure, or assume the maintenance of their erections should be a medical priority. But hey, while we’re making logical leaps here, should I just ask if you hate women?
December 26th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
I’d just like to note that if you’ve been to the Middle East lately, you probably noticed how widely available Viagra knock-offs are. I’ve never been to Afghanistan, but in my 2+ years in Iraq, finding Viagra on a guy stopped being surprising and funny after a couple of weeks. When I lived in Egypt, I knew twentysomethings who took it because they thought it made them even more manly. All our policy has done is recognized a demand and supplied people we’re trying to woo with stuff they would have bought anyway, and as Andrew B. noted, it’s not like this is the only thing we’re providing.
So to sum up, we didn’t introduce Afghani men to happy pills, we just decided to give them something they’re already spending money on. Call it “stimulus,” if you will….
December 26th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
I think this is a good example of somthing we are likely to see more of in the future: the worst of Islamic patriarchy combined with the worst of modern Western sexual nihilism.
Don’t limit it to Islam, Hector. India is a hotbed of sex-selection abortions, combining ancient Hindu sexism with modern Western abortion policy. Of course, you’d rather bash on the Muslims.
December 26th, 2008 at 4:45 pm
“if you’ve been to the Middle East lately, you probably noticed how widely available Viagra knock-offs are.”
When I was last in Turkey, Herbal Viagra was the hot item. I don’t know what it is about the Turks, but they’re a bunch of god-damned hippies. They always insist on organic food and herbal medicine. And you want to talk Free Love? They put us to shame. A Turkish man with fewer than seven girlfriends just isn’t a man. But at least they aren’t dirty hippies. A Turkish man who only gets two haircuts a week is considered unkempt. It’s the only place in the world I’ve had a haircut at three in the morning. And I didn’t even need one.
December 26th, 2008 at 5:14 pm
“Don’t limit it to Islam, Hector.”
Oh come on, Hector lives to bash Muslims.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
No, Hector lives to bash any religion that isn’t his own.
I assume Matt was being tongue in cheek with this post, although it’s hard to tell since he isn’t too bright.
In any event, it’s a stupid concept that demonstrates how brain dead most of our so-called “intelligence” operatives are. If they think any of this is going to swing the war in the US’s favor, they’re dumber than Charley Wilson.
December 26th, 2008 at 7:14 pm
“they’re dumber than Charley Wilson”
As Gust said, Charlie Wilson wasn’t stupid, he was a Congressman. But hey, you have to have respect for a guy who can get the Israelis to arm and finance radical Islam. That takes some talent.
December 26th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Oh, I don’t know about that. Israel was perfectly happy to send arms to Iran during Iran-Contra.
As long as they have nukes, they don’t care. Plus they know those weapons – unless they’re next door in the Territories or in Hizballah’s hands – aren’t going to be used against them – they’re going to be used against the US who will then oblige Israel by blowing up Israel’s enemies for it.
Not to mention that Israel has a military-industrial complex, too, that likes getting money from arms sales. They’ll even deal with North Korea.
December 27th, 2008 at 1:43 am
No prospect for blowback from dispesning Viagra?
No, I’m not speaking about literal blowback, so please get that image out of your mind. The point (Okay, I give up. You can’t write about this story without doubles entendres, so I’ll just forge on.) is that giving Viagra to middle-aged men encourages them to act like giddy teenagers, and the older the giddier. If tribal elders in a highly traditional and patriarchal society like Afghanistan’s start acting like teenagers, there goes your social fabric. No big deal if American men in their 50s act like teenagers, since everyone already knows that we’re idiots, but men that age in Afghanistan are still objects of respect.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:13 am
“Israel was perfectly happy to send arms to Iran during Iran-Contra.”
Okay, you got me there. They’ll do anything, won’t they?
But here’s a real thing: are we worried about some old guy getting a hard on, or are we worried about children getting cut down by a bomb? War ain’t pretty and people really get killed when it happens. This isn’t some fucking joke. And women sell their bodies during war because it’s the only thing that gets them food. Welcome to fucking reality. This isn’t just some numbers in your equation. And if you think that some old guy getting a hard on and finally fucking his wives is somehow more of a problem than rockets going into schools, you’re fucking crazy. If you have a moral problem with the things that happen in war, maybe you should oppose war itself. But if you support war and then oppose some of the moral problems with it, you can go to hell. I didn’t like this war from the start, and I had very good reasons for doing so. And they were moral ones. But the only moral solution now is to either win or leave. Doing either will require heinous acts. And Viagra, too. So what. It needs to end, and sex and violence is what it will take. Next time we think about starting a war, maybe we should think about this. And all of you people who want to get moralistic, understand that this is what war is. Your morals were needed before we started this war, not now. It’s too bad there isn’t a religion that has such morals. And I speak for my own religion, too.
December 27th, 2008 at 3:54 am
My uncle did three tours in Vietnam. But he never saw combat. He was a surgeon, so he only saw the results. Next time you want to support a war, ask yourself if you want to see those results. Maybe that dying child on the stretcher isn’t your son, but he’s somebody’s. If you don’t want your son on that stretcher, you better have a good reason why somebody else’s son should be there. If you don’t, maybe that’s a war to be avoided. Think about that. And think about that corpse being one of your family. Not so easy, is it? But war isn’t easy.
December 27th, 2008 at 5:16 am
I’ll add this. I never understood war because I was an American. Nobody ever bombed my town. But going to Southeast Asia, I met a lot of people who have seen war. And I’ve met a lot of people who would put any American to shame. My uncle’s three tours of duty? That’s crap. Try twenty years in three different armies. I’ve met plenty of people who’ve done that. And I’ve met plenty of people who didn’t serve in any army, but got the shit bombed out of them anyway. And I’ve met mothers who sent their children to fight on opposite sides because one side would win. We in America think war is some kind of joke. But it’s really not funny for the people who experience it. I’d say it’s Hell, but Hell is only reserved for people who want to fight wars. The rest of us just have to fight them anyway. Except for some doctors who have to clean up the mess. If you want to advocate a war, you need to put a six shot revolver against your head with five bullets in it. And if you don’t want your wife cleaning up the blood, you should think about the many wives who will clean up their husband’s blood. War isn’t a game, it’s played for keeps. And the only people who like war are those who have never experienced it. And that’s the Americans. But ask our soldiers, they don’t like it either. And they are pussies compared to the soldiers you meet in Southeast Asia. And the soldiers you meet in Southeast Asia really don’t like war at all. But they’re good at it. They don’t go home to their wife after eighteen months. They fight until they either win or die. That’s what war is about. Well, not actually. War is about killing schoolgirls with daisy cutters because we have some political disagreement with some government. It’s time we recognize it for the sadistic concept that it is.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:24 am
The Taliban could always get their Viagra the same way we do, by importing it from Canada….
—-
December 27th, 2008 at 6:27 am
Shorter me: You know that cute little girl in your neighborhood? If you can’t put a gun to her head and blow her brains out, you shouldn’t advocate war. Because if you do advocate war, some little girl that is just as cute will get killed in pretty much the same way. And her parents will feel just as bad. Just because you didn’t pull the trigger doesn’t make you less responsible. You just paid the person who did it. Or maybe just voted for them. Whatever. That’s a really ugly thought, but it’s also really real. And somehow it’s not a problem when it’s someone else’s daughter. Or is it?
December 27th, 2008 at 8:30 am
Dilan Esper,
Did I ever defend the practice of sex-selective abortions in India and China? If you catch me doing that, then let me know. The topic of this thread is Afghanistan and its dysfunctional society, which is in fact Muslim. The topic isn’t the flaws of India (which are real), nor is it the inexplicable and absurd Islamophilia among today’s chattering classes (which is even realer).
December 27th, 2008 at 5:55 pm
“So are you assuming that every time an Afghan has a hard dick that he’s raping a woman? It sounds like an unspoken racist assumption masquerading as a “woman’s issue.””
This is an ignorant comment. The article itself has a CIA source bragging that “some of these guys have 4 & 5 wives and this puts them back into an authoritative position”.
What do you think that means?
Some of those “wives” are no doubt very young – underaged. In this country the CIA agents would be prosecuted for facilitating pedophilia.
I swear to God, there is so much sexism in men on the left that it makes me ill. We’ve come a long way since Stokey Charmichael snickered “sure there’s a place for women in the movement; prone” haven’t we?
Please, stop and think. If it were a black male being exploited, you wouln’t have to stop and think. But it’s just a woman. Just a girl.
December 27th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Its well known these assholes marry girls as young as 8 or 10, Wartime or not. Human rights abuses against women and girls are always dismissed as “Culture.”
December 27th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
“Its well known these assholes marry girls as young as 8 or 10, Wartime or not. Human rights abuses against women and girls are always dismissed as “Culture.”
Yes. Thank you! How is it racism to acknowledge this truth? And in giving these old men viagra, these CIA agents are facilitating pedophilia with OUR tax dollars.
I say no.
And it’s disheartening that Yglesias and other men on the left (for instance, some commentators here) do not see this.
December 28th, 2008 at 7:01 am
I agree with PilgrimSoul and Catherine. Rape is a serious problem in Afghanistan – both on “our” side and the Taliban’s side. Marital rape is an enduring problem. And I would like to point out that we’re not only talking about the rape of women and young girls. Rape of young boys is also common. It is likely that many of the people the Viagra’d tribal officials are having sex with did not consent.
Before someone accuses me or others of being racist, check out what Afghan women’s and human rights organizations have to say. Oh, and name me another country and I’ll tell you about the rape problems there too. It isn’t racism to point out that sexual violence is everywhere. SO nice of the CIA to fuel it.
December 28th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
That’s true joops, and if anyone thinks this is ‘racist” check out this site, compiled by, oh, Afghanis –
http://www.aihrc.org.af/rep_eng_wom_situation_8_march.htm#_ftn7
Face it, this is not racist. What some here are doing is hiding misogyny behind false accusations of racism.
January 5th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Catherine, Joops – To imagine this not being racism I would have to accept that upon first hearing of Viagra your immediate thought was “Oh no, loads of children are going to get raped!”
Is that true?
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