Thursday, October 27, 2005

US in League With Afghan Heroin Drug Lords

Drug traffickers loaded with Afghan opium and heroin have virtually overrun and pulverized internal security in Tajikistan, particularly since the Taliban came to power in 1996. As most of the Afghan drug output finds its way to European nations (in addition to Russia), it might be expected that the European Union, and the United States, would make concrete efforts to help secure the Afghanistan -Tajikistan border.

There is no dearth of lamentation by Western political leaders about how the opiates have endangered security and about the damage caused to the youth. But, so far, no plan to address the problem has been put forward.

After the Taliban were ousted from Kabul in late 2001, opium production skyrocketed again, breaking all-time production records in 2004. Hundreds of tons of Afghan heroin are now transported annually to Europe, corrupting the continent's systems further - and much of it passes through Tajikistan.

Afghanistan is estimated to produce 87% of the world's supply of opium (4,519 tons this season, down 2% from 2004), with nearly half of the country's US$4.5 billion economy coming from opium cultivation and trafficking.

Moreover, by early 2003, it had become evident that US troops had forged alliances with many reigning Afghan warlords, who ostensibly provided support to American troops in their battle against the various anti-US elements conveniently lumped together as the Taliban.

Some of those dubious allies of the US troops and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led (NATO) coalition forces are suspected to be among Afghanistan's biggest drug traffickers, controlling networks that include producers, criminal gangs and even members of the counter-narcotics police force.