How £1m Bribe Cash For Afghan Warlords Went Up In Some

The Mail on Sunday, 22nd October 2006
By CHRISTOPHER LEAKE

A secret slush fund of more than £1million sent to Afghan-istan to bribe local warlords was destroyed when the Special Forces aircraft carrying it burst into flames as it came in to land.

The cash - all in brand new American notes - was packed into two four-wheel-drive vehicles being carried on the RAF Hercules C-130 plane.

The money was intended to 'buy off' local warlords and turn them against the Taliban.

But as the aircraft approached the runway in volatile Helmand province, one engine erupted in flames and the blaze spread quickly.

The pilot managed to touch down and all those on board - including the new British ambassador in Afghanistan, Stephen Evans, and a group of SAS troops - fled to safety with just seconds to spare. But it was too late to extinguish the inferno, and the Hercules was destroyed - along with the vehicles and cash.

The aircraft from No 47 Squadron, based at RAF Lyneham in Wiltshire, had flown in secrecy from Kabul, in what is termed a 'black operation', to the crude dirt landing strip outside the town of Lashkar Gar.

Most of the cash had been packed into plastic bags in the back of the SAS vehicles and the remainder was on a pallet strapped to the inside of the aircraft's rear ramp.

Officially, the money was to support 'development projects' in Helmand. But a military source said: "We knew little about Helmand and needed to gather intelligence fast.

"It doesn't matter where you go in the world, people respond to cash. In Helmand, warlords who run the narcotics business have a lot of influence - and we needed to have that influence on our side."

Senior sources say the cash destroyed in the blaze in May was written off by the Foreign Office and replaced a month later by about £500,000 drawn from Government emergency cash reserves.

While there is no official record or audit trail to show how the cash was used, senior sources claim the money helped to 'turn' pro-Taliban warlords to support the UK.

A senior intelligence officer said: "Where we had to fight we did, and thank God we had the Paras in Helmand. But where we could we used cash to buy support."

The Ministry of Defence last night confirmed that a 'sizeable amount of cash' was being transported by the plane which caught fire.