Military

DATE=2/26/04

TYPE=BACKGROUND REPORT

TITLE=AFGHANISTAN/HEROIN

NUMBER=5-54964

BYLINE=DAN ROBINSON

DATELINE=CAPITOL HILL

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: U-S narcotics officials have told Congress there are some significant obstacles in the way of efforts to prevent an expansion of opium cultivation and heroin exports from Afghanistan. The officials testified (Thursday) before a House (of Representatives) subcommittee, saying there is a clear link between terrorists in Afghanistan and the narcotics trade. V-O-A's Dan Robinson reports:

TEXT: Only about eight percent of cultivable land in Afghanistan is currently used to grow opium, a figure that seems low.

However, officials from the State Department and the U-S Drug Enforcement Administration (D-E-A) say preventing a sharp rise in cultivation will take a combination of unprecedented cooperation between the United States and European allies, and nothing less than a re-building of Afghanistan's law enforcement and judicial infrastructure.

Robert Charles, Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, says heroin from Afghanistan is the source of a growing "reservoir" of illegal money that supports opponents of the Afghan government and terrorist groups.

Afghan heroin sells on the international narcotics market for 100 times the price farmers get for their opium right out of the field. Mr. Charles describes how drug money supports destabilization not only in Afghanistan but elsewhere in the region:

/// CHARLES ACT ///

The drug money and terrorist organizations in Afghanistan and throughout the region are like chain links, bound tightly by mutually reinforcing motivations and operations. While there are other links in that China it is my conviction based on the information available that these two threats overlap palpably and incontrovertibly in Afghanistan.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Charles says the task is to prevent the "institutionalization" of heroin cartels so that democracy can flourish.

Karen Tandy, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (D-E-A), says opium production in Afghanistan has returned to nearly the same levels that existed during the Taleban regime. And she lists some of the obstacles:

/// TANDY ACT ///

There is yet no developed police force, no prosecutors, no judges, and no prisons. The Afghan counter-narcotics directorate is in its infancy, which leaves D-E-A with no viable national or local counterpart drug agency with which we can work.

/// END ACT ///

In addition, she says continuing security threats hamper the ability of drug enforcement teams to operate within the country or to conduct investigations.

Assistant Secretary for Narcotics Robert Charles agrees that there are some big obstacles but says the situation isn't hopeless.

He says a "targeted process" of apprehending narcotics traffickers, combined with a stepped up D-E-A presence and a process already underway of building a judicial system and training police, will send this message:

/// CHARLES ACT ///

There will be in fairly short order (time), the ability in a targeted way to send the message that drug trafficking and criminal activity of this kind is not tolerated in a free, democratic and non-corrupt Afghanistan.

/// END ACT ///

Members of Congress, in particular those from major urban centers suffering from narcotics activity and crime, are concerned about the flow of heroin to the United States.

/// OPT /// Congressman Dutch Ruppersberger is a Democrat from the State of Maryland:

/// RUPPERSBERGER ///

It's going to take a long time and we're going to have to have a lot of patience to deal with the issue of turning these warlords and farmers, and taking that product, whether it is eradication but then you got to put something else that is in there, and with all the political issues that are there, it's going to be difficult.

/// END ACT END OPT ///

Robert Charles says the cooperation of the Afghan government will be crucial, but he sees some reassuring signs:

/// CHARLES ACT ///

My recent meeting with President Karzai reaffirmed my conviction that he means business. He is serious about tackling the heroin threat in his country. /// OPT /// This is a leader who is dedicated to breaking the cycle of opium poppy cultivation and narcotics trafficking in his country before local trafficking rings become cartels, and put down tap roots, transforming Afghanistan into what some might call a "narco-state." /// END OPT

/// END ACT ///

The U-S government estimates that between seven and 10 percent of heroin on the streets of the United States comes from Afghanistan or other areas in Southwest Asia. (signed)

NEB/DAR/RH/FC