Five members of the U.S.-led international military coalition were killed today, May 3, by a roadside bomb in southern Afghanistan.
The coalition did not disclose the location of the blast but have been able to confirm that the five were Americans according to the Associated Press. Javeed Faisal, a spokesman for the governor of Kandahar province, said the coalition patrol hit the roadside bomb in Maiwand district of the province, known as the "spiritual birthplace" of the Taliban.
The attack is just the latest to occur since Afghan President Hamid Karzai admitted that his government has been receiving funds from the CIA "for more than a decade" as part of regular monthly assistance from the U.S. government.
Karzai recently told reporters at a news conference that the CIA's station chief in Kabul told him that "regular funding the U.S. intelligence agency gives his government will not be cut off," according to the Associated Press.
"The help and assistance from the U.S. is for our National Directorate of Security. That is state-to-state, government-to-government regular assistance," Karzai said according to a story published by The New York Times. "So that is a government institution helping another government institution, and we appreciate all this assistance and help, all this assistance is very useful for us. We have spent it in different areas (and) solved lots of our problems."
Karzai has refused to say how much assistance his government has received because it was being used for "intelligence work," but admitted it was in cash and "all the money which we have spent, receipts have been sent back to the intelligence service of the United States monthly."
At least some of the money was used to cover operational expenses, Afghanistan's intelligence service, and to care for wounded employees of the NDS according to the Associated Press.
"It is an official government deal between the two governments. This is happening all over the world, such deals between governments, and in Afghanistan, which is a needy country, these sorts of deals are very important and useful," said Karzai according to the Associated Press.
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