Canada Accused of, Denies "Bribing the Tribes"

It started with Brit media accusations that the Italians bribed the Taliban to leave them alone, and forgetting to tell French troops relieving them, leading to tragic consequences in Sarobi.

Italy and France deny the claims.

Then, buried in this story by France's wire service, is a similar accusation leveled at Canada (among others):

…. according to a number of Western and Afghan officers, all speaking on condition of anonymity, the politically sensitive practice is fairly widespread among NATO forces in Afghanistan.

One Western military source told of payments made by Canadian soldiers stationed in the violent southern province of Kandahar, while another officer spoke of similar practices by the German army in northern Kunduz.

CEFCOM denies this, with a very good rationale to boot:

“I haven’t heard of any type of payment that would be done by our troops in order to remain protected,” said Lt.-Col. Chris Lemay, a spokesperson with the Canadian Expeditionary Forces Command. “With the number of casualties we’ve been getting, had we paid these guys they wouldn’t be holding up their end of their bargain.”

More on why bribing the tribes can't work too well in the long run in Afghanistan here.