Men like to play games, possibly even in Afghanistan. Yesterday the New York Times had a story saying that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of President Hamid Karzai, has been paid by the CIA for some time and that he has been renting Mullah Mohd. Omar's villa to american Special Forces. The timing is exquisite. The presidential elections, believed to have been stolen by Hamid Karzai the last time round, is to be rerun in a week's time. One would expect the Taliban to be furious at this betrayal and go gunning for him. Instead the Taliban hit a UN compound killing ten. One possibility comes to mind. It is entirely possible that the money received by Ahmed Wali Karzai from the CIA was being transferred to the Taliban as protection money and the rent for the villa was being paid to Mulla Omar after a suitable deduction for his own expenses, of course. Mulla Omar and his Taliban friends would certainly enjoy the pilao and gosht that the american dollars would buy for them. The americans probably expected the revelations would damage Hamid Karzai and lose him the election but suddenly they find that arranging the process itself is becoming impossible. Games within games. Delicious.