WASHINGTON, Oct 28, 2009 - US President Barack Obama's
administration should brief Congress on any "entanglements" between
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's brother and the CIA or drug
traffickers, Senator John Kerry said Wednesday.
"The appropriate congressional committees must be immediately
provided with the most comprehensive and untainted information about
his alleged entanglements," said Democratic Senator John Kerry, a
key Obama ally.
Kerry's comments came after Ahmed Wali Karzai, who is said to
have ties to Afghanistan's lucrative illegal opium trade, denied a
New York Times report that he has been on the CIA payroll for most
of the past eight years.
Kerry, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said
top US officials had "repeatedly" assured him that "there is no hard
evidence" to substantiate the narcotics allegation.
"However, after reading press accounts which allege that Mr.
Karzai has been on the payroll of the CIA, one of the agencies
gathering intelligence about narcotics trafficking in Afghanistan, I
have serious questions about the information that Congress is
receiving," said Kerry.
"On questions this serious, it is imperative that we receive
reliable, current and accurate information," said the Massachusetts
Democrat, who helped broker a November 7 run-off election in
Afghanistan.
"We should not condemn Ahmed Wali Karzai or damage our critical
relations with his brother, President Karzai, on the basis of
newspaper articles or rumors," said Kerry.
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