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| Afghanistan |
| NATO commander says narcotics gangs to blame for much of Afghan violence |
| 2006-04-25 |
| The commander of NATO's operations insisted Monday that an increase in violence in southern Afghanistan did not indicate a resurgence of the Taliban, blaming much of the violence on drug gangs resisting efforts to cut opium production in the region. "It's tempting to label everything as Taliban, but I'm persuaded that is not the case," said U.S. Gen. James L. Jones. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 Jones meet Mikhailov, Mikhailov meet Jones. Top Russian Border Guard Urges Afghanistan to Combat Drugs MosNews Russia fears that it might take a long time to combat the drug industry in Afghanistan, where large quantities of drugs are still being produced. “We do not feel that drug trafficking is falling,” Lt.-Gen. Alexandr Mikhailov, a senior official with the Federal Service for Control over the Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, was quoted by Interfax. “Everything will depend on the how much effort the Afghan leaders make and stability in the region. If governments and the rules of the game continue to change constantly there, the fight against the production of drugs in Afghanistan will drag on for a very long time,” he said. According to the service, the main bulk of drugs, over 90 percent of it heroin, enters Russia from Afghanistan through Central Asia. “If the Afghan leaders manage to change the habits of peasants who profit from growing drugs and to make them switch to agricultural production, this will bring a positive outcome. But there is a danger that if one plantation is closed down, drugs will be grown and produced in a different place,” the general said. Mikhaylov stated earlier that because Russian border guards are leaving the Tajik-Afghan border, the law-enforcement bodies will have to set up a new system of anti-drug measures. Last week the Tajik State Border Protection Committee finally took over the Afghan border region from Russian border guards. “We must set up a new system of measures which will allow us to compensate for the withdrawal of Russian border guards from the Tajik-Afghan border,” Mikhaylov said, adding that this was a question, for instance, of “anti-drug security” belts around Afghanistan. “Of course, we are now aware that the batches of drugs coming into Russia are getting bigger. This is a worrying fact,” the general said. http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/06/20/afghandrugs.shtml |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2006-04-25 07:37 |