Francis Chartrand for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles

In an open letter published Thursday on the website of the New York Times, a former American diplomat says that Afghan President Hamid Karzai, protects the drug lords in Afghanistan, thus impeding the fight against trafficking in heroin.The paper is signed by Thomas Schweich, who was charged with the embassy of USA in Kabul to fight against drug trafficking in Afghanistan from March 2006 to June 2008.

According to Mr. Schweich, narcocorruption have reached the summit of the Afghan government. It also alleges that members of the Karzai government would be involved in drug trafficking, but that the president closes his eyes.

The drug traffickers would buy the silence of police chiefs, judges and other officials. Moreover, when the traffickers are arrested and convicted, they corromperaient prison officers, so that their imprisonment is of short duration.

Afghanistan produces 90% of global heroin. In 2007, 880 tonnes of poppy, the source of manufacture of heroin, have been produced in the country. The regions of Helmand and Kandahar, where Canadian troops, are the two provinces most affected by opium production. According to figures put forward by the United Nations, the sale of heroin on the black market would have won $ 4 billion (U.S.) in 2007.

Thomas Schweich believes that the fight against drug trafficking in Afghanistan is a failure. He said poppy cultivation had increased by 17% in 2007 compared to 2006. Moreover, this year, eradication of poppy cultivation n'équivaudrait than one third of the 20 000 hectares destroyed in 2007, or about 6600 hectares.

The former diplomat does not blame only the Karzai government failure in the fight against drug trafficking. According to him, the Pentagon made a mistake until the end of the war in Afghanistan to stop the trafficking of drugs, because the money pocketed by the production of heroin maintains the Taliban insurgency.

Mr. Schweich also believes that NATO should become more involved in this fight.

A strange cabal of Europeans shy, media blind Afghans corrupt officers Pentagon simply, the Democrats political motivations and the Taliban has prevented the implementation of an effective anti-drug program.

- Thomas Schweich

Pled Karzai

The Afghan President, Hamid Karzai, Thursday refuted allegations by Thomas Schweich. Mr. Karzai believes that the explosion of drug trafficking in his country was not solely attributable to Afghanistan. "Without doubt some Afghans are drug traffickers, but the majority [traffickers] are part of the international mafia who does not live in Afghanistan," he said.

Radio-Canada.ca with Agence France Presse, Canadian Press and Site New York Times Magazine

Link

Labels: Afghanistan, Anne Humphreys, Arab World, Islam, Karzai, United States

# posted by Francis Chartrand @ 1:17 AM