The US intelligence officials are using Viagra to win new Afghan friends who can provide them information about activities of al Qaeda and the Taliban.

Recently, a CIA officer used four viagra pills to win over an Afghan chieftain, who looked older than his 60-odd years, and was burdened with duties as tribal patriarch and husband to four younger women.

Take one of these. You'll love it, The Washington Times quoted the officer, as saying.

The enticement worked. The officer, who described the encounter, returned four days later to an enthusiastic reception. The grinning chief offered up a bonanza of information about Taliban movements and supply routes followed by a request for more pills.

For US intelligence officials, this is how some crucial battles in Afghanistan are fought and won.

While the CIA has a long history of buying information with cash, the growing Taliban insurgency has prompted the use of novel incentives and creative bargaining to gain support in some of the country's roughest neighborhoods, according to officials directly involved in such operations.

In their efforts to win over notorious warlords and chieftains, the officials say, the agency's operatives have used a variety of personal services.

These include pocketknives and tools, medicine or surgeries for ailing family members, toys and school equipment, tooth extractions, travel visas, and, occasionally, pharmaceutical enhancements for aging patriarchs with slumping libidos, the officials said.