KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 27 (UPI) -- The CIA is paying members of Afghan President Hamid Karzai's administration to maintain an information pipeline on the Afghan government, U.S. officials said.

Current and former American officials said the payments are designed to help the spy agency maintain allies within the presidential palace, either formally as informants or informally as a way to ensure accessibility, The Washington Post reported Friday.

CIA spokesman Paul Gimigliano told the Post the agency plays a vital role in promoting American goals in Afghanistan, including security and stability.

"Speculation about who may help us achieve that is both dangerous and counterproductive," he said.

A former CIA official said the payments were necessary because "the head of state is not going to tell you everything," and because Karzai often seemed unaware of what members of his administration were doing.

The disclosure comes as a corruption investigation into one of Karzai's senior national security advisers -- and an alleged agency informant -- places more stress on the already troubled U.S.-Afghanistan relationship.

Top U.S. officials have expressed concern about Karzai's efforts to hamstring anti-corruption panels and his intervention in the case against his adviser accused of accepting a bribe for helping to thwart a corruption investigation.

Concerns that the Afghan government is utterly corrupt prompted one congressional committee to withhold billions of dollars in aid, and threaten to undermine support for the war, the Post said.

Karzai supporters have accused U.S. officials of exploiting reports of corruption to try to humiliate the Afghan leader while ignoring more pressing matters, the Post said.

Karzai said Thursday President Obama's schedule for withdrawing U.S. troops "has given courage to the enemies of Afghanistan."

He said the United States wasn't doing enough to force Pakistan to stop enabling the Taliban.