Pubdate: Thu, 14 Mar 2002
Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (AR)
Copyright: 2002 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.ardemgaz.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/25
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

DEA TARGETS AFGHANISTAN IN DRUG WAR

Narcotics agents from the Drug Enforcement Administration could soon be 
working in Afghanistan for the first time in nearly two decades, but there 
are limits to what the agency can do about next month's harvest of opium, 
Asa Hutchinson, head of the DEA, told a Senate subcommittee Wednesday.

That harvest will come primarily from the country's most war-torn and 
lawless regions and could be much larger than last year's harvest because 
the current government of Afghanistan has little power to enforce its ban 
on poppy cultivation and production.

"There are security concerns. This is an enormously dangerous neck of the 
woods, as we say in Arkansas," Hutchinson said. "But we have DEA agents who 
are ready, willing and anxious to be there because it is so important to 
our nation."

Hutchinson was on a panel that addressed the Subcommittee on Technology, 
Terrorism and Government Information. The topic was the worldwide 
connection between drugs and terrorism.

Hutchinson said Afghanistan's interim president, Hamid Karzai, has renewed 
the Taliban's ban on poppy cultivation. But other countries will have to 
supply resources to enforce the ban.

The law of supply and demand gives desperate farmers and drug dealers in 
Afghanistan the incentive to continue their efforts. Since last year, the 
price of opium has increased from about $30 a kilogram to about $330 a 
kilogram, according to DEA estimates.

Hutchinson said a proposed DEA initiative called Operation Containment 
would open an office in Kabul and expand existing offices in Asia and 
Europe. The establishment of an office in Kabul can be paid for within the 
current DEA budget, but Congress would have to approve a transfer of 
funding. Lawmakers on the subcommittee said they would work to make that 
transfer happen as soon as possible.

Martha Brill Olcott, senior associate for the Carnegie Endowment for 
International Peace, told the subcommittee that the United States has for 
too long ignored the security risks inherent in Afghanistan's drug trade. 
That's because most of those drugs went to Europe.

"Prior to Sept. 11, it was difficult to convince U.S. policy-makers that 
Afghanistan's drug industry was a U.S. problem, and even now, we have no 
concrete strategy to deal with renewed drug cultivation in Afghanistan," 
Olcott said.

The effectiveness of the current ban in Afghanistan depends upon the 
willingness of local warlords to go along, she said.

"But these men have absolutely no incentive to do so, as they are able to 
tax the crop or its transit, depending upon what part of the country they 
are living in," she said.

The United States and its allies have discussed paying farmers to grow 
other crops, or paying some of their expenses, but Olcott said that won't 
stop the drug trade.

"Economic incentives will work for the farmers only if the country's elite 
is forced to cease collecting from this highly lucrative trade," she said.

"As in all civilized countries, Afghanistan's drug dealers must be subject 
to arrest and lengthy incarceration. Pressing Hamid Karzai's government to 
punish Afghanistan's drug dealers will certainly cost it and us some friends."

Hutchinson said the DEA's focus is on fighting drug trafficking, but the 
agency's growth in war-torn regions of the world, such as in the Middle 
East and Asia, will help the agency gather more intelligence that can be 
used in the war on terrorism.

The president has requested an additional $35 million and 73 positions for 
next year to enhance intelligence gathering by the DEA.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager