Russian state-controlled Channel One TV has broadcast a report
containing allegations that US forces are involved in drug-trafficking from
Afghanistan to Europe. It also highlighted the problem of drug abuse in the
British army.
In 2007,
Afghanistan cultivated 193,000 hectares of opium poppies, an increase of 17%
over last year. The amount of Afghan land used for opium is now larger than the
corresponding total for coca cultivation in Latin America (Colombia, Peru and
Bolivia combined). Favourable weather conditions produced opium yields (42.5 kg
per hectare) higher than last year (37.0 kg/ha). As a result, in 2007
Afghanistan produced anextraordinary 8,200 tons of opium (34% more than in 2006)
becoming practically the exclusive supplier of the world's deadliest drug (93%
of the global opiates market)
Council on Foreign
Relations, September 19, 2007
The channel's weekly news roundup "Voskresnoye Vremya" on 10
February noted that, according to the UN, the amount of opium being produced in
Afghanistan has more than doubled since the coalition troops entered the
country.
The report went on to show former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair
visiting the country at an unspecified time. It said that he had met almost 800
British troops during the visit. "This is either a coincidence or the working of
cruel fate, but this is the exact number of soldiers that the British army loses
each year because of drug abuse. This is more than the total combat losses of
the royal army in Iraq and Afghanistan," the correspondent noted.
The report then featured an extract from a BBC news website story
saying that the British army loses a whole battalion of troops a year because of
drug abuse (Research revealed that the story was published on 14 December
2007).
The report went on to look at the wider problem of how to reverse
the trend of increasing opium production in Afghanistan.
Aleksandr Mikhaylov, the head of the department of
interdepartmental and informational activity at the Russian Drugs Control
Agency, was shown saying that economic measures to tackle the problem are
foundering on local corruption. "The local authorities draw up seriously forged
lists in which an amount is recorded for the amount destroyed and, in fact, the
crop has not been destroyed at all. The theft of the money to combat narcotics
is going on and is flourishing," he said.
The accusation that US forces are involved in drug-trafficking
came from Geydar Dzhemal, chairman of the Islamic Committee of Russia. "Without
the control and connivance on the part of the special services none of these
things are possible. For example in Afghanistan, the CIA and the special
services are quite brazen. Under the protection of the American army they meet
the necessary people. They collect the stuff, go to the Bagram airbase and they
hand in a large consignment of narcotics, which is then taken away," he
said.
My
knowledge of all this comes from my time as British Ambassador in Uzbekistan. I
.. watched the Jeeps ... bringing the heroin through from Afghanistan, en route
to Europe. I watched the tankers of chemicals roaring into Afghanistan.
The
four largest players in the heroin business are all senior members of the Afghan
government �?the government that our soldiers are fighting and dying to protect.
Craig Murray / The Mail, ,
July 21, 2007
The report went on to say that heroin reached the Balkans via
Turkey, which "has been a member of NATO since 1952 and is the USA's closest
ally in the region". It said it is "another amazing coincidence" that Kosovo
hosts the largest NATO base in Europe. The correspondent added that there is a
"secret Interpol post" next to this base. "Here they speak almost openly about
Afghan heroin in American planes," he noted.
A man captioned as Marko Nicovic, Interpol employee, explained
that 90 per cent of heroin goes through the Albanian mafia, which is now more
powerful than the Sicilian mafia. He also alleged that members of this mafia
bribe European parliamentarians to support the independence of Kosovo.
The report went on to link high levels of drug crime in Russia
with the US invasion of Afghanistan. "Since the Americans unleashed war on the
Taliban, Russian crime labs have been working non-stop," the correspondent
observed over footage of a drugs raid and packages of drugs being opened.
Aleksandr Mikhaylov, the head of the department of
interdepartmental and informational activity at the Russian Drugs Control
Agency, was shown saying that the production of narcotics in Afghanistan is
getting more professional and that drugs have taken a real stranglehold on the
Afghan economy. "The situation today is that narcotics have become a substance
used for barter in Afghanistan," he observed.
"For as long as heroin remains the only hard currency in the
country and until NATO and its military coalition do not resolve their own
issues, the agricultural proclivities here will hardly change," the
correspondent concluded.
http://www.rawa.org/temp/runews/2008/02/17/russian-state-tv-suggests-usa-involved-in-drug-trafficking-from-afghanistan.html
http://www.sott.net/articles/show/148967-Russian-state-TV-suggests-USA-involved-in-drug-trafficking-from-Afghanistan
http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=143&a=5234
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