http://musliminsuffer.wordpress.com/
bismi-lLahi-rRahmani-rRahiem
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
=== News Update ===
Drug mafia, CIA blamed for sacking of Afghan governor
Monday January 08, 2007 (0951 PST)
KABUL: In a country flooded with narcotics traffickers and corrupt
government officials, one of Afghanistan's few remaining 'clean' governors,
Mohammed Daud, has been removed from his position, and many are blaming the
drug mafia and the CIA for his abrupt dismissal.
Daud was appointed at the request of the British government in order to
oversee Helmand province, the country's largest opium producing region.
The former governor of Helmand, Sher Muhammad Akhunzada, whom Daud replaced
earlier this year, has been widely implicated in the drug trade.
Contrary to Akhunzada, "British officials regarded Mr Daud as the cleanest
governor in Afghanistan and hoped that his extensive experience in
development would help to win over Helmand's population," The Times reported.
Last month, however, the British government expressed frustration with the
effort, pointing to the fact that Afghan President Hamid Karzai continued
to meet with the former governor, Akhunzada. Adding further strain on the
situation, Karzai appointed Akhunzada as a senator and made his brother,
Amir Muhammad Akhundzada, Daud's deputy.
"The president is undermining his own governor," one British official told
The Times. "It doesn't help what we're trying to do."
It would appear U.S. officials, particularly from the Central Intelligence
Agency, were influencing Karzai's actions, undercutting the efforts of
their British counterparts. Moreover, as The Independent reported, "British
sources have blamed pressure from the CIA for President Hamid Karzai's
decision to dismiss Mohammed Daud as governor".
"The Americans knew Daud was a main British ally," one official explained
to The Independent, "yet they deliberately undermined him and told Karzai
to sack him."
The U.S. apparently favors the brother of Daud's predecessor and purported
drug lord, Akhunzada.
As The Times reports, "British officials fear that Mr Daud will be replaced
by his deputy, Amir Muhammad Akhunzada, the brother of Sher Muhammad
Akhunzada. He is thought to have links to the drug trade and has been
banned from running in elections because he refuses to disband his personal
militia."
"For the moment," as one official told The Times, "before a new governor is
named, the governor of Helmand is a drug-dealing warlord who was banned
from the elections by the UN for keeping a militia and his connection to
narcotics, and with whom the British have said they cannot work. Nice."
Opium from Afghanistan provides more than 90 percent of the world's total
supply, funding international drug syndicates with billions of dollars in
profits every year.
According to a recent report issued by the United Nations and the World
Bank, the U.S.-installed government has established a "complex pyramid of
protection and patronage, effectively providing state protection to
criminal trafficking activities."
"Around 25 to 30 key traffickers, the majority of them based in southern
Afghanistan, control major transactions and transfers, working closely with
sponsors in top government and political positions," the report states.
"This year's record harvest of 6,100 tons of opium will generate more than
$3 billion in illicit revenue - equivalent to almost half of Afghanistan's
GDP," writes Antonio Maria Costa, executive director of the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime. "Profits for drug traffickers downstream," he
notes, "will be almost 20 times that amount."
According to Costa, "High-level collusion enables thousands of tons of
chemical precursors, needed to produce heroin, to be trucked into the
country. Armed convoys transport raw opium around the country unhindered.
Sometimes even army and police vehicles are involved. Guns and bribes
ensure that the trucks are waved through checkpoints. Opiates flow freely
across borders into Iran, Pakistan, and other Central Asian countries."
"There are many cases where honest prosecutors or police chiefs try to do
something about corruption, and they say they receive phone calls from very
high officials in Kabul saying to leave the people alone," said Barnett
Rubin, an expert on Afghanistan and director of studies and senior fellow
at New York University's Center on International Cooperation.
As The Washington Post has plainly summarized, "corruption and alliances
formed by Washington and the Afghan government with anti-Taliban tribal
chieftains, some of whom are believed to be deeply involved in the trade,
[have] undercut the [counter-narcotics] effort."
source:
http://www.paktribune.com/news/index.shtml?165264
Related Facts :
1. Afghanistan now nearly 'a narcotics state'
More than three years after a pro-U.S. government was installed,
Afghanistan has been unable to contain opium poppy production and is on
the verge of becoming a narcotics state, according to a presidential
report. The report said the area in Afghanistan devoted to poppy
cultivation last year set a new record of 206,700 hectares, more than
triple the figure for 2003. When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, opium
production was nearly halted. So, how come the Taliban is terrorist,
then!!! Now there is a bumper crop. Look for the quiz on Afghanistan
further down.
http://www.infowars.net/Pages/Mar05/050305Afghanistan.html
2. The Truth About The USA, Drugs and Afghanistan
"Before 1980, Afghanistan produced 0% of the world's opium. But then the
CIA moved in, and by 1986 they were producing 40% of the world's heroin
supply. By 1999, they were churning out 3,200 TONS of heroin a year
nearly 80% of the total market supply. But then something unexpected
happened. The Taliban rose to power, and by 2000 they had destroyed nearly
all of the opium fields. Production dropped from 3,000+ tons to only 185
tons, a 94% reduction!"
<http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=13577&TagID=1>http://www.khilafah.com/home/category.php?DocumentID=13577&TagID=1
3. Who benefits from the Afghan Opium Trade?
The United Nations has announced that opium poppy cultivation in
Afghanistan has soared and is expected to increase by 59% in 2006. The
production of opium is estimated to have increased by 49% in relation to
2005. The Western media in chorus blame the Taliban and the warlords. The
Bush administration is said to be committed to curbing the Afghan drug
trade: "The US is the main backer of a huge drive to rid Afghanistan of
opium... "
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060921&articleId=3294>http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=CHO20060921&articleId=3294
4. UN Report Says Afghan Government Protect Drug Traffickers
KABUL (AP)--Afghanistan's criminal underworld has compromised key
government officials who protect drug traffickers, allowing a record opium
trade that won't be stamped out for a generation to flourish, an ominous
new U.N. report released Tuesday said.
<http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20061128>http://www.nasdaq.com/aspxcontent/NewsStory.aspx?cpath=20061128\ACQDJON200611281353DOWJONESDJONLINE000662.htm&selected=9999&selecteddisplaysymbol=9999&StoryTargetFrame=_top&mkt=WORLD&chk=unchecked&lang=&link=&headlinereturnpage=http://www.international.na
5. Afghanistans opium crop at an all-time high
The question is why. Under Taliban rule, which began in the late 1990s,
Afghanistan just about kicked the growing habit by 2001. After five years
the Taliban is slipping back in, but poppy production has grown by leaps
and bounds. According to the Washington Post, "Opium production in
Afghanistan, which provides more than 90 percent of the world's heroin,
broke all records in 2006, reaching a historic high despite ongoing
U.S.-sponsored eradication efforts, the Bush administration reported yesterday.
http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/article_1511.shtml
===
-muslim voice-
______________________________________
BECAUSE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO KNOW
_______________________________________________
is-lam mailing list
[email protected]
http://milis.isnet.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/is-lam
