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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| Heroin boom fills Taliban warchest |
| 2004-05-31 |
| AFGHAN authorities fear this year’s vast opium harvest will provide a huge narcotics war chest for Taliban and al-Qaeda terrorists who have been squeezed by new financial tracking operations. The drug money is used to buy everything from satellite phones to ammunition, say officials who predict this year’s opium crop will at least match last year’s 3600-tonne harvest. Afghanistan’s Counter Narcotics Directorate chief, Mirwais Yasini, says he knows of at least two millionaire drug smugglers in league with Taliban rebels trying to destabilise the country’s south. "We know ... the money they make is millions of dollars." The terrorists are also suspected of taking a cut at other levels of opium production. The head of the United Nations Office of Drug Control, Antonio Maria Costa, believes the smugglers are taxed by the terrorists at a rate of between 13 and 15 per cent of their load. "Cultivation takes place in the centre of the country and then the opium is moved by convoys slowly towards the border of Iran or Pakistan," says Costa, who was to travel to Afghanistan this week to check on the drug trade. "Periodically these convoys run into insurgents or paramilitary checkpoints and they are asked for a share." Afghan authorities last month arrested a graduate of a feared al-Qaeda-linked Pakistani terror group who was farming opium poppies by day and launching pro-Taliban attacks by night. Mohammed Suhil, 17, was arrested at a checkpoint in the country’s dangerous Panjwayi region, which has been the scene of numerous fatal attacks on foreigners, government officials and NGOs. |
| Posted by:Paul Moloney |