NATO Chief Calls for War on Afghan Drug Trade

[unhappycamper]

NATO Chief Calls for War on Afghan Drug Trade
September 24, 2008
Agence France-Presse

Senior NATO commander General John Craddock called for alliance troops to step up the fight against Afghanistan's drugs trade as he ended a three-day visit to the country Wednesday, his office said.

Craddock, the alliance's Supreme Allied Commander for Europe, was in Afghanistan for an "operational update" and to meet troops in the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), it said in a statement.

"As an interim measure I've asked for expanded authority from NATO to permit ISAF attack of drug laboratories and drug trafficking facilities -- not the farmers," Craddock was cited as saying during his trip.

Afghanistan produces around 90 percent of the world's illegal opium, much of which is turned into heroin inside the country and exported to Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

The United Nations says some of the profits from the lucrative trade fund an extremist insurgency as farmers are often obliged to pay a 10 percent tax to the strongmen in their areas, whether it be Taliban or corrupt officials.


Rest of article at: http://www.military.com/news/article/September-2008/nato-chief-calls-for-war-on-afghan-drug-trade.html?col=1186032310810