"Pharmaceutical Diplomacy" Makes the News

I was serving as a pathologist in the Army and based at the 121st Evacuation Hospital in Seoul, Korea, in 1971-1972. On occasion, a representative from U.S. Embassy in Seoul would come to the hospital pharmacy and requisition bottles of barbiturates. The scuttlebutt around the hospital at that time was that these were "spooks" (i.e., CIA operatives) and that the pills were being used in the street to barter for military intelligence from informants. I had forgotten about this distant chapter in my life until I came across a recent article in the Washington Post that made a similar observation (see: Little Blue Pills Among the Ways CIA Wins Friends in Afghanistan). Below is an excerpt from the article with boldface emphasis mine:

The Afghan chieftain looked older than his 60-odd years, and his bearded face bore the creases of a man burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women. His visitor, a CIA officer, saw an opportunity, and reached into his bag for a small gift. Four blue pills. Viagra....The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes -- followed by a request for more pills....In their efforts to win over notoriously fickle warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services. These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.

I had previously assumed that Afghan warlords held money and political influence in their highest esteem. I now understand that there is one thing that they covet even more. Rather than spending many millions of dollars on ill-fated construction projects in Afghanistan, I have a more modest proposal. The U.S. government should encourage, and perhaps even underwrite, the building of a string of CVS and Walgreens stores in Kabul and in the hinterlands of the country. We should even offer to our special friends a special "warlord or Taliban card" that would qualify them for special attention in these facilities. Special provisions should be made if they leave their cards at home.