Corker to Obama: Explain CIA Payments to Karzai

Sen. Bob Corker is pressing the Obama administration to explain why the CIA made secret payments to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

In a letter to President Barak Obama released by Corker's office, the Tennessee Republican said the cash handouts work against the U.S. attempts to reduce corruption in the Karzai government.

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"Recent news reports of years of large cash payments to President Karzai, if accurate, indicate an incoherent U.S. policy toward Afghanistan," Corker wrote in the letter posted on his congressional website. He said he wants to know "how this alleged policy fits within overall U.S. objectives in Afghanistan."

"Our support for the Karzai administration should have evolved long ago into regular and more sustainable efforts that are fully coordinated across the government and are calibrated to ensure collaboration with U.S. policies," added Corker, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"The alleged arrangements make accountability impossible and promote corruption at the top levels of the Afghan government, as well as break trust with the American taxpayer."