The American CIA attempted to buy influence with Afghan President Hamid Karzai by delivering Tens of Millions of US Dollars in suitcases, backpacks, and shopping bags.  And the practice went on for more than a decade according to a published report.

Instead of gaining US favor in the offices of the Afghan President, the money was doled out to corrupt officials and questionable local warlords, the New York Times reported.  Karzai himself never handled the money.  That was left to his national security council.

The corrupt officials who got the money often had ties to the drug trade and in some cases, even to the Taliban.  Despite this, the practice of giving out cash without official checks and balances appears to not violate any US laws.

“We called it ‘ghost money',” said Khalil Roman, who served as Karzai's chief of staff from 2002 until 2005.  “It came in secret and it left in secret.”

The CIA and the US State Department has not commented on the report.