Taliban's Tyranny No Problem For Anti-Drug Aid PLEASE COPY AND DISTRIBUTE DrugSense FOCUS Alert #211 Wednesday May 23, 2001 The moral bankruptcy of the drug war was highlighted again last week as US officials announced that the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan would be receiving about $43 million in anti-drug funds for forcing farmers to abandon opium crops that had previously been tolerated. As columnist Robert Scheer pointed out in the Los Angeles Times (below), the Taliban has created one of the world's most repressive governments. Women have been effectively stripped of all rights in Afghanistan, and leaders have caused other recent international uproars by destroying ancient Buddhist statues and announcing that religious minorities will soon be required to wear identification tags. But all this can be forgiven by the Bush administration, because these totalitarians are allies in the drug war. US leaders and the Taliban are also aware that farmers who had been growing opium will likely starve, but aside from expressing mild regret, they are doing nothing to change the situation. Please write a letter to the Los Angeles Times to express outrage that the drug war is again being used as an excuse to support cruel oppression. PLEASE SEND US A COPY OF YOUR LETTER OR TELL US WHAT YOU DID (Letter,Phone, fax etc.) Please post a copy your letter or report your action to the sent letter list () if you are subscribed, or by E-mailing a copy directly to Your letter will then be forwarded to the list with so others can learn from your efforts and be motivated to followsuit This is VERY IMPORTANT as it is one important way we have of gauging our impact and effectiveness. Contact Info Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Contact: ARTICLE US CA: Column: Bush's Faustian Deal With The Taliban URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v01/n922/a09.html Newshawk: Terry Liittschwager Pubdate: Tue, 22 May 2001 Source: Los Angeles Times (CA) Copyright: 2001 Los Angeles Times Contact: Website: http://www.latimes.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/248 Author: Robert Scheer Note: Robert Scheer Is a Syndicated Columnist. BUSH'S FAUSTIAN DEAL WITH THE TALIBAN Enslave your girls and women, harbor anti-U.S. terrorists, destroy every vestige of civilization in your homeland, and the Bush administration will embrace you. All that matters is that you line up as an ally in the drug war, the only international cause that this nation still takes seriously. That's the message sent with the recent gift of $43 million to the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan, the most virulent anti-American violators of human rights in the world today. The gift, announced last Thursday by Secretary of State Colin Powell, in addition to other recent aid, makes the U.S. the main sponsor of the Taliban and rewards that "rogue regime" for declaring that opium growing is against the will of God. So, too, by the Taliban's estimation, are most human activities, but it's the ban on drugs that catches this administration's attention. Never mind that Osama bin Laden still operates the leading anti-American terror operation from his base in Afghanistan, from which, among other crimes, he launched two bloody attacks on American embassies in Africa in 1998. Sadly, the Bush administration is cozying up to the Taliban regime at a time when the United Nations, at U.S. insistence, imposes sanctions on Afghanistan because the Kabul government will not turn over Bin Laden. The war on drugs has become our own fanatics' obsession and easily trumps all other concerns. How else could we come to reward the Taliban, who has subjected the female half of the Afghan population to a continual reign of terror in a country once considered enlightened in its treatment of women. At no point in modern history have women and girls been more systematically abused than in Afghanistan where, in the name of madness masquerading as Islam, the government in Kabul obliterates their fundamental human rights. Women may not appear in public without being covered from head to toe with the oppressive shroud called the burkha , and they may not leave the house without being accompanied by a male family member. They've not been permitted to attend school or be treated by male doctors, yet women have been banned from practicing medicine or any profession for that matter. The lot of males is better if they blindly accept the laws of an extreme religious theocracy that prescribes strict rules governing all behavior, from a ban on shaving to what crops may be grown. It is this last power that has captured the enthusiasm of the Bush White House. The Taliban fanatics, economically and diplomatically isolated, are at the breaking point, and so, in return for a pittance of legitimacy and cash from the Bush administration, they have been willing to appear to reverse themselves on the growing of opium. That a totalitarian country can effectively crack down on its farmers is not surprising. But it is grotesque for a U.S. official, James P. Callahan, director of the State Department's Asian anti-drug program, to describe the Taliban's special methods in the language of representative democracy: "The Taliban used a system of consensus-building," Callahan said after a visit with the Taliban, adding that the Taliban justified the ban on drugs "in very religious terms." Of course, Callahan also reported, those who didn't obey the theocratic edict would be sent to prison. In a country where those who break minor rules are simply beaten on the spot by religious police and others are stoned to death, it's understandable that the government's "religious" argument might be compelling. Even if it means, as Callahan concedes, that most of the farmers who grew the poppies will now confront starvation. That's because the Afghan economy has been ruined by the religious extremism of the Taliban, making the attraction of opium as a previously tolerated quick cash crop overwhelming. For that reason, the opium ban will not last unless the U.S. is willing to pour far larger amounts of money into underwriting the Afghan economy. As the Drug Enforcement Administration's Steven Casteel admitted, "The bad side of the ban is that it's bringing their country--or certain regions of their country--to economic ruin." Nor did he hold out much hope for Afghan farmers growing other crops such as wheat, which require a vast infrastructure to supply water and fertilizer that no longer exists in that devastated country. There's little doubt that the Taliban will turn once again to the easily taxed cash crop of opium in order to stay in power. The Taliban may suddenly be the dream regime of our own war drug war zealots, but in the end this alliance will prove a costly failure. Our long sad history of signing up dictators in the war on drugs demonstrates the futility of building a foreign policy on a domestic obsession. SAMPLE LETTER To the editor, I'm glad Robert Scheer took the Bush administration to task for giving millions in anti-drug aid to Afghanistan's Taliban, a government that insists on dehumanizing women and committing other crimes ("Bush's Faustian Deal With The Taliban," May 22). US leaders seem to think that despite all the horrors that have been visited on the people of Afghanistan, a successful drug eradication program shows some light shining in an otherwise very dark government. To the contrary, America's relentless support of the drug war helps to magnify the darkness in our own government. Instead of rewarding these despots, the administration ought to reevaluate its own policies and goals regarding drugs. If we have to bribe the Taliban to display a degree of ruthlessness suitable to us, that should surely indicate the depth to which we have sunk in the immoral cesspool of the drug war. Stephen Young contact info IMPORTANT: Always include your address and telephone number Please note: If you choose to use this letter as a model please modify it at least somewhat so that the paper does not receive numerous copies of the same letter and so that the original author receives credit for his/her work. TARGET ANALYSIS Los Angeles Times Circulation. 1.2 Million Readers. A 160 word Letter published in this paper has an advertising value of about $2,880. The MAP published letter archive has 164 letters from the Los Angeles Times. A recent sample showed that they published both long and short letters, some as brief as 65 words, one as long as 450 words. On average, the letters sampled were about 160 words long. The published letters can be viewed here: http://www.mapinc.org/mapcgi/ltedex.pl?SOURCE=Los+Angeles+Times+(CA) ADDITIONAL INFO to help you in your letter writing efforts 3 Tips for Letter Writers http://www.mapinc.org/3tips.htm Letter Writers Style Guide http://www.mapinc.org/style.htm TO SUBSCRIBE, DONATE, VOLUNTEER TO HELP, OR UPDATE YOUR EMAIL SEE http://www.drugsense.org/hurry.htm TO UNSUBSCRIBE SEE http://www.drugsense.org/unsub.htm Prepared by Stephen Young - http://www.maximizingharm.com Focus Alert Specialist

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