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Taleban uses drug money to
fund military operations: US

Afghanistan's ruling Taleban militia is using drug money to finance weapon purchases and military operations, the US State Department has said.

In its annual International Narcotics Control Strategy report, the State Department said Afghanistan continued to be the largest opium producer accounting 72 per cent of the world's illicit opium supply despite severe drought conditions in most parts of that country.

Reliable estimates indicate that cultivation has increased by 25 per cent and potential production reached 3,656 metric tons. Traffickers of Afghan heroin continued to route most of their production to Europe and has now targeted the United States, the report said.

The Taleban in July last issued a new ban on poppy cultivation but it was not clear how serious the Taleban's efforts were to enforce the ban, the report said, adding that the announcement of the ban had caused the drug prices to rise -- a boon for traffickers sitting on large stockpiles.

Neither the Taleban nor the Northern Alliance has taken any significant action to seize stored opium, precursor chemicals or arrest and prosecute narcotics traffickers. On the contrary, authorities continue to tax the opium poppy crop at about ten per cent and allow it to be sold in open markets.

The drug trade corrupts local authorities and is the major factor behind skyrocketing heroin addiction in refugee and indigenous populations and is also responsible for increased levels of terrorism and drug-related violence in neighbouring countries, the report said.

PTI

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