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| Afghanistan |
| War in Afghanistan ineffective? |
| 2003-02-02 |
| Source: NNI And we'll consider the source! Russia's Border Guard Service have said that the US-led anti-terror operation in Afghanistan has done nothing to reduce the flow of illegal drugs from that country. "To our great regret, the operation of the United States and its allies in Afghanistan has not led to significant changes in combating the drug trade," Alexander Manilov, a senior border guard official, was quoted by the Interfax. We didn't go there to stop the drug trade, we went there to stamp out al-Qaeda and the Taliban. So we're 2 out of 3. "Afghanistan has preserved not only plots of land for growing drugs but also warehouses, bases and laboratories with equipment for producing drugs," he said. Russia is a major transit point for Afghan opium and heroin to make its way from Central Asia to Western Europe. Russian officials have repeatedly complained about the continuing drug trade in Afghanistan. Their armed forces were poisoned by this stuff in their war, and demand remains strong to this day. Manilov said Russia had provided the US and its allies with data on drug storage and production sites in Afghanistan, but without result. "Russia gave its Western partners, including the United States, information on bases where drugs are stored and places where they are produced. But the fact that the drug flows are not subsiding shows that many of the production facilities have not been destroyed," he said. That's a job for Karzei's government once he's got Hek, the mullahs, the Pashtuns and the situation in Herat under control. Don't hold your breath. |
| Posted by:Steve White |