Winning Hearts and Minds with Viagra

Happy holidays to our readers!

American soldiers and C.I.A. agents in Afghanistan have spent the last seven years trying to unlock the secrets to winning the hearts and minds of Afghan tribal chiefs. According to an article in the Washington Post this morning, rejuvenating a chief's manhood, in the form of little blue pills could be an important tool for gaining allies. The Post reports that a C.I.A agent used Viagra to gain cooperation from a tribal chief who hitherto was not interested in helping the Americans out:

Take one of these. You'll love it," the officer said. Compliments of Uncle Sam. 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.

American officials have been wary of using this technique, because of cultural and religious sensitivities, but have managed to employ it with frequent success. A lot of tribal chiefs have more than one wife and are usually of considerable age, why the American's didn't attempt this earlier is anyone's guess.

The Americans haven't been offering the pills to younger men, but then that begs the question, what will please the men of fighting age? A Nintendo Wii or a PS3 with Guitar Hero? Laptops so they can join naseeb.com - the Muslim world's answer to match.com.

Until the Taliban gets their hands on a shipment of the little blue pills the Americans seem to have found an unlikely advantage in the battle of hearts and minds. The unwillingness of the Taliban to sell what they may consider to be western decadence, may end up selling themselves short.