US ignored Afghan drugs now financing Taliban

"To fight a Taliban insurgency flush with drug money for recruits and weapons, the Bush administration recognizes that it must also combat the drug trafficking it had largely ignored for years. But plans to clear poppy fields and pursue major drug figures have been frustrated by corruption in the Afghan government, and derided by critics as belated half-measures or missteps not likely to have much impact.
. . . The State Department and Pentagon repeatedly clashed over drug policy, according to current and former officials who were interviewed. Pentagon leaders refused to bomb drug laboratories and often balked at helping other agencies and the Afghan government destroy poppy fields, disrupt opium shipments or capture major traffickers, the officials say.
And the C.I.A. and military turned a blind eye to drug-related activities by prominent warlords or political figures they had installed in power, Afghan and American officials say.
. . . Administration officials say they had believed they could eliminate the insurgency first, then tackle the drug trade. “Now people recognize that it’s all related, and it’s one issue,” said Thomas Schweich, the State Department’s coordinator for counternarcotics in Afghanistan."

source
Risen, James. (The New York Times). Poppy Fields Are Now a Front Line in Afghan War. May 16, 2007.

posted: friday, may 18, 2007, 6:11 PM ET

tags: afghanistan drug

Afghan opium farmers & traffickers support Taliban / Afghan people support government, NATO spokeswoman says

"In its largest offensive yet, thousands of NATO troops moved Tuesday into the mountains of southern Afghanistan where hundreds of hardcore Taliban insurgents hold sway -- an operation in the world's biggest opium-producing region aimed at winning over a population long supportive of militant fighters.
. . . Helmand is the world's biggest producer of opium, and a new U.N. drug assessment indicates this year's poppy harvest could be higher than last year's record output. The U.N. says Taliban fighters protect poppy farmers and tax the crop, deriving money for their insurgency -- perhaps as much as hundreds of millions of dollars.
Aside from offering protection, the Taliban also derives its strong local support from ethnic and tribal ties.
. . . U.S. intelligence officials say Taliban fighters have flooded into Helmand over the last several months, and there are now more fighters there than anywhere else in the country." [1]

"NATO said the offensive was aimed at countering the Taliban insurgency, which has joined forces with drug traffickers to make Helmand the most lawless province in Afghanistan.
. . . 'We know there are hundreds of foreign fighters' in southern Afghanistan, Colonel Collins said. 'They are from Central Asia, the Middle East and Africa.' He said hard-core Taliban, who number in the 'high hundreds,' are able to recruit young men in the districts and are supported by militias trafficking in narcotics." [2]

"Lt. Col. Angela Billings, a spokeswoman for NATO forces, said the time is right to try to break the insurgents' grip on the area.
'Afghanistan is a different place than it was nine months ago. The local population is tired of the unrest,' Billings said. 'They're definitely behind [NATO forces] and the Afghan national security forces. They believe in the government, and they want to be supportive.' " [3]

source
[1] The Associated Press. NATO Launches Offensive Against Taliban. March 6, 2007.
[2] Gall, Carlotta. (The New York Times). NATO Mounts Largest Attack on Taliban in the South. March 7, 2007.
[3] Witte, Griffe. (The Washington Post). NATO Offensive Targets Taliban In S. Afghanistan. March 7, 2007.

posted: wednesday, march 7, 2007, 8:45 PM ET
update: thursday, march 7, 2007, 12:04 AM ET

tags: afghanistan drug