Afghanistan: Taliban Windfall As Opium Crop Is Set for Another Bumper Year

Afghanistan, the world's biggest opium producer, is set for another bumper crop this year, providing a windfall for the Taliban who tax farmers to finance their fight against government and foreign forces.

More than six years after US-led and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban, the failure to bring opium production under control means Afghanistan is now locked in a vicious circle. Drug money fuels the Taliban insurgency and corruption, weakening government control over large parts of the country, which in turn allows more opium to be produced.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ( UNODC ) predicted the 2008 opium crop would be similar to, or slightly lower than, last year's record harvest. In 2007, Afghanistan had more land growing drugs than Colombia, Bolivia and Peru combined.

"While it is encouraging that the dramatic increases of the past few years seem to be levelling off, the total amount of opium being harvested remains shockingly high," said UNODC chief Antonio Maria Costa.

Opium is processed into heroin and smuggled mainly to Europe, where users often turn to crime to pay for the drug. "Europe and other major heroin markets should brace themselves for the health and security consequences," he said.

Opium poppy cultivation is concentrated in the south where the Taliban are strongest, and where British troops are based. Opium production is growing "at an alarming rate" in the south and west, the UN said.

All poppy farmers surveyed in southern Afghanistan said they paid 10% of their opium income to the Taliban or corrupt government officials.

"This is a windfall for anti-government forces," Costa said. "Further evidence of the dangerous link between opium and insurgency."

The report comes as Afghan ministers and international donors meet in Japan to discuss developments in Afghanistan. Britain is pushing for long-term investment in infrastructure and assistance for Afghan farmers.

Afghanistan is calling for more aid to stamp out opium production, but diplomats and analysts say President Hamid Karzai has failed to deal with corruption among government officials.

"We can only fight drugs in Afghanistan by the support of the international community," said General Khodaidad, acting Minister of Counter Narcotics, who uses one name.

Japan, host of the two-day meeting, responded by announcing new assistance of UKP55m, including UKP5m for police reform and UKP4.5m for border management.

However, Afghanistan's plea for more assistance comes as the United States and its allies struggle to co-ordinate policy in the face of rising Taliban attacks. Canada has threatened to pull out unless other Nato countries contribute more.

Violence in Afghanistan worsened last year and at least 10,000 people, including about 300 foreign troops, have been killed in Afghanistan in the past two years, aid groups say.

Meanwhile, the number of Afghan civilians killed by accident by US or Nato forces in air strikes and ground battles doubled between 2006 and 2007, the aid agencies claimed.

Human Rights Watch and the Project for Defence Alternatives ( PDA ) said that 272 men, women and children died in bombing raids, 62 were killed by ground fire and 16 were lost to a combination of the two last year.

This contrasted with 116 known deaths from coalition bombs and 114 from small arms and artillery fire in 2006. The coalition's increasing reliance on air power to compensate for the lack of troop numbers on the ground was the major cause of the increase in "collateral damage", said a PDA spokesman.








pass drug test
if you like this blog, check out pass drug test

Self Improvement Trumps Jail Time For Drug Trafficker

The Crown Has Lost An Appeal Of An 18-Month Conditional Sentence Given To A Cocaine Dealer.

The appeal was launched on the grounds that the sentencing judge placed "undue weight" on the man's aboriginal background.

Martin Patrick Charlie, of Cloverdale, had pleaded guilty to possessing cocaine for the purpose of trafficking after an RCMP officer caught him with 30 packages of cocaine and 16 packages of heroin worth about $1,200.

On the day he was arrested, Charlie was already serving nine-months' house arrest in respect to three drug charges arising out of another dial-a-dope operation he was involved in.

The Crown had argued for an actual prison term of 18 months to two years less a day, given this was his second dial-a-dope operation. The fact that his latest crime occurred while serving a sentence should have been seen as an aggravating factor, the Crown maintained.

But the sentencing judge, Peder Gulbransen, saw promise in Charlie's rehabilitation and decided to give him a break.

"Judges sometimes have to take chances," he said.

Justice David Frankel noted, in his reasons for decision, that more than two years have passed since Charlie was involved in the drug trade. "Why this case has taken this long to reach this point is not entirely clear," Frankel noted.

"However, it is a fact that during this period Mr. Charlie has been subject to stringent conditions, and is a much different person today than he was in October, 2005."

"It would be unjust," Frankel added, "and counterproductive not only to Mr. Charlie's interests, but those of society at large, to interfere with his successful efforts at rehabilitation by sentencing him to a period of incarceration at this time."




ezdetox
if you like this blog, check out how to pass a drug test