CIA Expanding Presence in Afghanistan to Historic Levels as Part of Spy and Paramilitary Surge

[Raymond]

Presence in Afghanistan for a hundred years according to US
officials ?

CIA Expanding Presence in Afghanistan to Historic Levels as Part of
Spy and Paramilitary Surge
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&startpos=6800

September 2009: CIA Expanding Presence in Afghanistan to Historic
Levels as Part of Spy and US officials reveal that the CIA is
expanding its teams of spies, analysts, and paramilitary operatives in
Afghanistan as part of a larger intelligence “surge” led by the
Pentagon, in which its station is expected to rival the size of the
massive CIA stations in Iraq and Vietnam at the height of those wars.
A Los Angeles Times report outlines a distinctly militarized CIA role
in Afghanistan, with enhanced paramilitary capacity to support an
expanding covert war led by Special Operations and military
intelligence. Among other things, the escalation in covert operations
reportedly aims to collect information on Afghan officials involved in
the drug trade and increase targeted raids to counter an increasingly
effective insurgency. Interestingly, one US intelligence official
tells the Los Angeles Times that the spy agencies “anticipated the
surge in demand for intelligence” in Afghanistan.
Militarized CIA Role to Support Pentagon - The Los Angeles Times
reports that the CIA is preparing to deploy Crisis Operations Liaison
Teams—small paramilitary units that are attached to regional military
commands—to give the military access to information gathered by the
CIA and other sources, while General Stanley McChrystal, commander of
allied forces in Afghanistan, is expanding the use of teams known for
raids and assassinations that combine CIA operatives with Special
Operations commandos. These developments are in line with Pentagon
programs established this year (see August 26, 2009 and October 7,
2009) to integrate military and civilian spy operations and develop
intelligence capabilities dedicated to Afghanistan and Pakistan for
the long term. Furthermore, the CIA’s Afghanistan station, based at
the US Embassy in Kabul, is now headed by an operative with an
extensive background in paramilitary operations, according to US
officials. The Times notes that most CIA operatives in the country
have been deployed to secret bases and scattered military outposts,
with the largest concentration of CIA personnel at Bagram Air Base,
headquarters for US Special Operations forces and the site of a secret
agency prison.

Operatives to Trace Ties between Drug Kingpins and Corrupt Officials -
Officials say that the spies are being used in various assignments,
from teaming up with Special Forces units pursuing high-value targets
and tracking public sentiment in provinces that have been shifting
toward the Taliban, to collecting intelligence on drug-related
corruption in the Afghan government. The Times notes that US spy
agencies have already increased their scrutiny of corruption in Kabul,
citing a recent Senate report that described a wiretapping system
activated last year aimed at tracing ties between government officials
and drug kingpins in the country. [US Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations, 8/10/2009; Los Angeles Times, 9/20/2009]

Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Stanley A. McChrystal, US
Joint Special Operations, Bagram Air Base, Crisis Operations Liaison
Teams
Timeline Tags: War in Afghanistan
Category Tags: Afghanistan
http://www.historycommons.org/timeline.jsp?timeline=complete_911_timeline&startpos=6800