Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and a suspected player in the booming illegal opium trade, gets regular payments from the CIA, and has for much of the past eight years, according to current and former US officials.

The agency pays Wali for many services, including helping to recruit an Afghan paramilitary force that operates at the CIA’s direction in and around Kandahar.

The financial ties and close working relationship between the CIA and Wali raise significant questions about America’s war strategy, which is under review at the White House.

The ties to Wali have created divisions within the Obama administration. Critics say the ties complicate America’s tense relationship with Karzai.

Some US officials argue that the reliance on Ahmed Wali Karzai, the most powerful figure in a large area of southern Afghanistan, undermines the US push to develop an effective Central government.

“If we are going to conduct a population-centric strategy in Afghanistan, and we are perceived as backing thugs, then we are just undermining ourselves,” said Maj Gen Mike Flynn, senior US military intelligence official in Afghanistan.

Wali said in an interview that he does not engage in drug trade and does not receive payments from the CIA.