Pubdate: Wed, 16 May 2007
Source: San Jose Mercury News (CA)
Copyright: 2007 San Jose Mercury News
Contact:  http://www.mercurynews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/390
Author: James Risen, NY Times
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/coke.htm (Cocaine)

BELATED BATTLE AGAINST AFGHAN DRUG TRAFFICKING

Taliban Thrives Along With Opium Production

KABUL, Afghanistan - In a walled compound outside Kabul, two members 
of Colombia's counternarcotics police force are trying to teach raw 
Afghan recruits how to wage close-quarters combat. Using mock wooden 
AK-47 assault rifles, Lt. John Castaneda and Cpl. John Orejuela 
demonstrate commando tactics to about 20 new members of what is 
intended to be an elite Afghan drug strike force. The recruits - who 
American officials say lack even basic law enforcement skills - watch 
wide-eyed.

"This is kindergarten," said Vincent Balbo, the U.S. Drug Enforcement 
Administration chief in Kabul, whose office is overseeing the 
training. "It's Narcotics 101."

Another DEA agent added: "We are at a stage now of telling these 
recruits, 'This is a handgun, this is a bullet.'" It is a measure of 
this country's virulent opium trade, which has helped revive the 
Taliban while corroding the credibility of the Afghan government, 
that U.S. officials hope that Afghanistan's drug problem will someday 
be only as bad as that of Colombia.

While the Latin American nation remains the world's cocaine capital 
and is still plagued by drug-related violence, U.S. officials argue 
that decades of American counternarcotics efforts there have at least 
helped stabilize the country.

"I wanted the Colombians to come here to give the Afghans something 
to aspire to," Balbo said. "To instill the fact that they have been 
doing this for years, and it has worked."

To fight a Taliban insurgency flush with drug money for recruits and 
weapons, the Bush administration now recognizes that it must also 
combat the drug trafficking it had largely ignored for years. But 
plans to clear poppy fields and pursue major drug figures have been 
frustrated by corruption in the Afghan government, and derided by 
critics as belated half-measures or missteps that are unlikely to 
have much impact.

"There may have been things one could have done earlier on, but at 
this stage, I think there are relatively limited good options," said 
James F. Dobbins, a former State Department official who served as 
the administration's special representative on Afghanistan.

Poppy growing is endemic in the countryside, and Afghanistan now 
produces 92 percent of the world's opium. But until recently, U.S. 
officials acknowledge, fighting drugs was considered a distraction 
from fighting terrorists.

The State Department and Pentagon repeatedly clashed over drug 
policy, according to current and former officials who were 
interviewed. Pentagon leaders refused to bomb drug laboratories and 
often balked at helping other agencies and the Afghan government 
destroy poppy fields, disrupt opium shipments or capture major 
traffickers, the officials say.

Former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and military leaders also 
played down or dismissed growing signs that drug money was being 
funneled to the Taliban, the officials say.

And the CIA and military turned a blind eye to drug-related 
activities by prominent warlords or political figures they had 
installed in power, Afghan and U.S. officials say.

Not so long ago, Afghanistan was touted as a success, a country freed 
from tyranny and Al-Qaida. But as the Taliban's grip continues to 
tighten, threatening Afghanistan's future and the fight against 
terrorism, Americans and Afghans increasingly are asking what went 
wrong. To that, some U.S. officials say that failing to disrupt the 
drug trade was a critical strategic mistake.

"This is the Afghan equivalent of failing to deal with looting in 
Baghdad," said Andre D. Hollis, a former deputy assistant secretary 
of defense for counternarcotics. "If you are not dealing with those 
who are threatened by security and who undermine security, namely 
drug traffickers, all your other grandiose plans will come to naught."

Administration officials say they had believed they could eliminate 
the insurgency first, then tackle the drug trade.

"Now people recognize that it's all related, and it's one issue," 
said Thomas Schweich, the State Department's coordinator for 
counternarcotics in Afghanistan. "It's no longer just a drug problem, 
it is an economic problem, a political problem, and a security problem."

To step up efforts, last fall Bush privately prodded President Hamid 
Karzai of Afghanistan to curb opium production, then vowed publicly 
in February to provide more help.

While the DEA has imported Colombian trainers in Kabul, U.S. Justice 
Department officials are helping build from scratch an Afghan 
judicial system to deal with drug cases. State Department officials, 
meanwhile, have helped found the Afghan Eradication Force to wipe out 
opium poppy crops. The U.S. military is providing logistical support 
for DEA raids and eradication.

The symbolic heart of the Bush administration's efforts is a 
construction site amid tin shanties and junkyards near the Kabul 
International Airport - a new $8 million Counternarcotics Justice 
Center. After its scheduled opening in July, the center will be a 
one-stop shop for drug cases, with two courts, offices for 70 
prosecutors and investigators and jail cells for 56 drug suspects.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman