The Afghan President Hamid Karzai confirmed on Monday that his National Security Council was receiving money from the US for many years, but he did not comment whether the cash was coming directly from the CIA.
The New York Times in an article revealed that several Afghan officials at President Karzai's office have been on the CIA's payroll since the beginning of the war twelve years ago.
Speaking at a press conference in the Finland's capital Helsinki, President Karzai said the money was spent for military and logistical purposes and he thanked the US for the support.
"The National Security Council (NSC) has received supports from the US government over the past ten years, not in large amounts but in small amounts," President Karzai said.
"The money has been used for different purposes such as in operations, assisting wounded Afghan soldiers and paying rents. The assistance has been very useful and we are thankful to them."
President Karzai's former Deputy Chief of Staff, Khalil Roman, who was quoted in the New York Times article confirming the payments, told TOLOnews on Monday that "the money was delivered to President Karzai's house without revelation of where it came from."
However, President Karzai's National Security Advisor, Rangin Dadfar Spanta, who accompanies the president in the Europe trip, told TOLOnews that he was not aware of any payments from the CIA to the NSC.
"I, personally, as the National Security Advisor [to President Karzai] don't have any information about such payments and how they are spent.
I just learnt today that such payments were made to the presidential palace," Spanta told TOLOnews on the phone from Helsinki.
The New York Times reported that 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 in the presidential palace.
All told, tens of millions of dollars have flowed from the CIA to the presidential office, according to the New York Times.
The CIA has long been known to support some relatives and close aides of Mr Karzai, according to the article. But the new accounts of off-the-books cash delivered directly to his office show payments on a vaster scale, and with a far greater impact on everyday governing, it said.
Moreover, there is little evidence that the payments bought the influence the CIA sought. Instead, some American officials told the NYT, the cash has fueled corruption and empowered warlords, undermining Washington's exit strategy from Afghanistan.
It's not the first time that reports leak cash payments have been made by foreign governments to President Karzai's office. In 2010, President Karzai acknowledged that Iran regularly gave bags of cash to one of his top aides.
