Who’s afraid of a polygraph test? Not Afghanistan’s most notorious reputed drug lord, who is on the CIA payroll.

Jeff Stein reports in his Washington Post SpyTalk column that a secret State Department cable recently published by Wikileaks reveals that Ahmed Wali Karzai, the half-brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, wanted a polygraph test to clear himself of narcotics allegations. The relevant paragraph of the cable, dated 25 February 2010, is this:

Drug Trafficker: Where is the Polygraph? —————————————- ¶7. (S//Rel NATO, ISAF) Unprompted, [Ahmad Wali Karzai] raised allegations of his involvement in narcotics, telling the [U.S. Senior Civilian Representative Frank Ruggiero ] that he is willing to take a polygraph anytime, anywhere to prove his innocence and that he has hired an attorney in New York to clear his name. He suggested that the coalition pay mullahs to preach against heroin, which would reduce demand for poppy cultivation. AWK dismissed the narcotics allegations as part of a campaign to discredit him, particularly by the media, saying the allegations are “like a spice added to a dish to make it more enticing to eat.”

The document does not indicate whether the United States government took Karzai up on the offer. That Karzai, reputedly the wealthiest narcotics trafficker in Afghanistan, is not afraid of a polygraph “test” about whether he is involved in narcotics trafficking should give the U.S. Government pause about its continued reliance on polygraphy, which has no scientific basis and is vulnerable to simple countermeasures that anyone can learn.

Perhaps this Afghan drug lord on the CIA payroll understands more about polygraphy than the CIA does.